Alaska:
Why did Americans support the annexation and the purchase?
The purchase of Alaska was seen as a expansion to the network of trade between the United States and the Asia continent, particularly with China and Japan. The US also received a very good deal for purchasing Alaska, ~2 cents an acre, adding up to a equivalent $7.2 million (1867 currency). In return of strengthening relations with Russia, natural resources were discovered in Alaska that led to opposition to relinquish, including the discovery of gold during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1880, and also oil in Sterling, Alaska in 1968. Alaska also provided the US with large quantities of military bases and training sites in Arctic conditions for the US Army's Arctic Strategy, which is a cold-weather training that soldiers take part in.
Why did Americans oppose the annexation and the purchase?
Most of American citizen's opposition came from the fear of purchasing a unknown land with what seem to have no benefits, for large amounts of money that the US simply did not have. Alaska was coined as "Seward's Folly". Alaska was typically described as a frozen wasteland with no benefits, though opposition mostly ended with the Klondike Gold Rush, as described above.
Learn more about "Seward's Folly", here:
https://brainly.com/question/2538161
