Some points from @johnddavidson on the history of the Alaska purchase, but Alaska had been a Seward hobbyhorse for years, sale had been discussed during the Civil War in negotiations over the Overland Telegraph line. Didn't come from nowhere in 1867.https://twitter.com/johnddavidson/status/1224697512235339776 …
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If anything, the Russians had been more interested in selling Alaska for a decade before 1867 than we were in buying it. It was also part of the broader pictures of (1) strong US-Russian relations in the 1850s-60s & (2) tensions w/Britain & Canada.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
A big driver initially for the sale of Alaska was the fallout of the Crimean War and the desire to recoup costs by some in the Russian imperial court. But as I mentioned in an earlier tweet, those efforts went nowhere in the late 1850s.
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Replying to @johnddavidson
Right. They went nowhere because we weren't ready to buy, and everything in Congress was entangled in sectional politics. But Seward would totally have made the deal even then.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
My point is that by 1867 Seward didn't have the clout to make the deal, and by all accounts it only happened when it did because Stoeckl greased the skids.
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Which was also largely how the railroad bills passed. And the telegraph project involved paying off Stoeckl with Western Union stock.
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