On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally took possession of Alaska
after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less
than two cents an acre. Indigenous peoples settled the unforgiving territory thousands of years earlier.

The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice
the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward,
the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.

William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872)

Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845)

Jackson served as the seventh president of the United States
from 1829 to 1837.