How Did American Imperialism Affect Alaska

This essay will be based on Imperialism in Alaska and how it helped America grow. The main points this essay will describe are:why America was interested in Alaska, how America got involved with Alaska, and the impact Imperialism had on Alaska. To provide some insight, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867 after one postponed attempt and the Civil War. Although some people during the 1860s viewed the imperialistic purchase of Alaska as non-beneficial, incentive to acquire Alaska was high due to it’s benefit through strategies to prevail over other powers, valuable resources, and the opportunities it opened up with Asia. First, Why specifically was America interested in Alaska? America was interested in Alaska from many different angles. There

After the Russians came and went there were few indigenous people left in Alaska. When America came in it got involved in the previous Indian Wars. In “Why Russia Gave Up Alaska, America’s Gateway to the Arctic” by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley explains that Alaska was partly used afterwards for military means, “Alaska was made a military district by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant with Gen. Jefferson C. Davis selected as the new commander.” This benefited America through military means but the indigenous people were still brushed aside, and did not give them rights to anything such as the right to vote. That is until the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 came into play. These laws gave the natives more freedom by letting Indians from governments and by banning open discrimination. This benefited America even more by being able to start to coexist with the indigenous population. Gold also played a major role on the impact of Alaska. Once America discovered gold was in Alaska newcomers came from all around and took advantage of situation. In an excerpt from an article on “what did Alaska get from the Gold Rush?” it explains some benefits that were created after some time in Alaska, “ In just a few decades the gold rush created towns, transportation and communications systems. Trails were turned into roadways, Railway lines were being laid to improve the efficiency of moving goods around the state…” People were able to progress business and America’s economy through the gold found in Alaska. Although at first Imperialism had a negative effect on some parts of Alaska there were changes made to better the lives of indigenous people while still trying to preserve mainly the economic benefit from its