The sale of Alaska by the Russian government was the most controversial deal of the 19th century. There are still disputes about its legality, necessity, various rumors arise about the possibility of returning the lands of the so-called Russian America. But those who condemn the actions of Alexander II do not take into account the state of the Russian economy at that time, the position of the empire on the world stage.
The country did not have time to recover after World War II, when it entered a new campaign - the Crimean one, the economic damage from which was later estimated at 800 million rubles in gold. Against this background, the distant and unprofitable northern colony could not get any additional funds for development. And she demanded more investments. Moreover, Alaska demanded not only money, but also immigrants. For 70,000
indigenous people , only 2,500 Russians lived there, who simply lost among the locals. The fact that the colony was located very far from the central government led to the fact that complete anarchy reigned in its territory, which was under the control of the Russian-American company. Local residents were taxed heavily, which was also collected by company representatives. The predatory actions of the Russian colonists led to the start of a series of uprisings of the Indians. It was difficult to resist them, since neither human nor financial resources were available for this. As a result, the sale of Alaska was the only right decision.
From the beginning of the 19th century, the young country of America led an active foreign policy. Her first achievement was the purchase of Louisiana from France , with the result that the US territory almost doubled. Not all states in America accepted and appreciated this acquisition, but time has shown the value of such a decision. In 1847, for the first time, a proposal appeared for the sale of North American colonies, however, at that time a buyer was not found. The US Congress was not ready to buy “ice and stones,” and relations with the UK from Russia were, to put it mildly, strained.
Nevertheless, an agreement was reached with America. A significant role in this was played by the assistance provided by the United States to the Russian fleet in resolving their conflict with England. The first meeting took place in December 1866. Alexander II himself attended the meeting. As a result, the transaction was approved and on March 30 of the next year the contract was signed. According to the agreement, all Russian possessions on the North American continent were transferred to the United States for 11 million rubles.
All the talk that the sale of Alaska is a fiction, that it was leased for 99 years, is a common fiction. The contract is stored in the American archive and is not said a word about the lease in its text. The money was transferred to the London branch of the Baring Bank, and then to Russia. Recently, there has been increasing talk that the Americans did not comply with the terms of the deal and now it can be challenged. However, according to all laws, Russian and American, all statutes of limitations have already expired.
The sale of Alaska was beneficial to all parties to the transaction. Russia got rid of the unprofitable colony, which brought more problems than benefits. The empire was in dire need of the money that Alaska could bring. The sale allowed to establish good diplomatic relations with the United States and helped to fill up the deficit of the budget devastated by the Crimean campaign.