<P> Over the winter of 1859--1860 de Stoeckl held meetings with American officials, though he had been instructed not to initiate discussions about the sale of the RAC assets . Communicating primarily with Assistant Secretary of State John Appleton and Senator William M. Gwin, de Stoeckl reported the interest expressed by the Americans in acquiring Russian America . While President James Buchanan kept these hearings informal, preparations were made for further negotiations . Senator Gwin tendered a hypothetical offer of five million dollars for the Russian colony, a figure Gorchakov found far too low . De Stoeckl informed Appleton and Gwin of this, the latter saying that his Congressional colleagues in Oregon and California would support a larger figure . Buchanan's increasingly unpopular presidency forced the matter to be shelved until a new presidential election . With the oncoming American Civil War, de Stoeckl proposed a renewal of the RAC's charter . Two of its ports were to be open to foreign traders and commercial agreements with Peru and Chile to be signed to give "a fresh jolt" to the company . </P> <P> Additionally, the Russian Crown sought to repay money to its landowners after its emancipation reform of 1861 and borrowed 15 million pounds sterling from Rothschilds at 5% annually . When the time came to repay the loan, the Russian government was short of funds . </P> <P> Russia continued to see an opportunity to weaken British power by causing British Columbia, including the Royal Navy base at Esquimalt, to be surrounded or annexed by American territory . Following the Union victory in the Civil War, the Tsar instructed the Russian minister to the United States, Eduard de Stoeckl, to re-enter into negotiations with William H. Seward in the beginning of March 1867 . President Johnson was entangled in negotiations about Reconstruction and Seward had alienated a number of Republicans, so they believed that the purchase would help divert attention from the domestic issues . The negotiations concluded after an all - night session with the signing of the treaty at 04: 00 on March 30, 1867, with the purchase price set at $7.2 million ($105 million in 2016), or about 2 cents per acre ($4.74 / km). </P> <P> An Aleut name, "Alaska", was chosen by the Americans . This name had earlier, in the Russian era, denoted the Alaska Peninsula, which the Russians had called "Аляска" (Alyaska) (also Alyaksa is attested, especially in older sources). </P>

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