Fate of Alaska after Confederate independence?

If the South achieves independence, does the U.S. still have the cash to purchase OTLs Sewards ice box? Or is that money going to the army?

If the U.S. has no interest in purchasing Alaska, does Russia keep it or do they sell it to Britain or someone else?
 
They likely have the cash but would their be the will?

I am skeptical about Russian keeping control of the territory, especially once gold is discovered. If the US isn't interested after the civil war, the most probable scenario is the British purchasing it.
 

bugwar

Banned
Land Grab

They likely have the cash but would their be the will?

As near as I can tell, there is a good reason for the acquisition -

"Reactions to the purchase in the United States were mixed, with some opponents calling it "Seward's folly" while many others praised the move for weakening both Britain and Russia as rivals to American commercial expansion in the Pacific region. The purchase threatened British control of its Pacific coast colony, giving added impetus to Canadian Confederation, which was realized just three months later, in July 1867. The Dominion of Canada would welcome British Columbia to confederation in 1871, ending U.S. hopes of annexation and an uninterrupted connection of Alaska to the United States."

Besides, if the Feds don't take it, perhaps the Confeds would.
Wouldn't that be a real kick in the teeth for the Yankees? :D

alaska-purchase-cartoon-granger.jpg
 
I think the sale might get delayed a few years because of the economic chaos in America from losing the war. America probably still winds up with it, but Britain could buy it in the interim.

The odds of the Confederacy picking it up are astronomically low.
 
Since Confederate independence almost certainly involved British intervention to some degree...breaking the blockade, forcing negotiations, direct warfare, etc.; it's my belief that the Union would have been even more keen to acquire Alaska than OTL. The Union had the money, in fact to have a Confederate victory the war was likely over at least a year earlier. So why not buy it? Russia doesn't want to sell to Britain but wants rid of the place, and the Union wants to encircle British North America as it feels encircled by the CSA/BNA...win-win. Alaska is still US territory by 1870.

Benjamin
 
Isolationist Democrats probably win the 1864 election. Alaska remains part of Russia indefinitely and most likely Britain presses either the border in red or green in the below map of Southeast Alaska.

1903_Alaska_boundary_dispute.png
 
Since Confederate independence almost certainly involved British intervention to some degree...breaking the blockade, forcing negotiations, direct warfare, etc.

With Britain joining the war wouldn't this mean a two front war for the US?
If their military is stretched guarding their New England and dixieland border lines; will they want to stretch out venue further. They might even fear a third front rising from French - allied Mexico attacking their Western territories?
 

jahenders

Banned
While Democrats probably win in a scenario that involves CSA independence, they're not necessarily isolationist -- just anti-ACW. I think even they might find the deal too tempting to pass up.

If the US doesn't take it, Russia might offer a portion to Britain knowing that Britain will certainly take some if Russia doesn't sell. If the US doesn't buy, Britain and then the US will take portions.

Russia will NOT keep all of Alaska indefinitely, though they might retain a small "rump" area near Juneau, Sitka, Kodiak, Unalaska, etc.

Isolationist Democrats probably win the 1864 election. Alaska remains part of Russia indefinitely and most likely Britain presses either the border in red or green in the below map of Southeast Alaska.

1903_Alaska_boundary_dispute.png
 
In the 1860's Russia and Britain were cordially hostile to each other, at best. I can't see the Russians selling Alaska to Britain anywhere in this time frame. If they really want to unload it they can reduce the price to the USA, or just keep it.
 
Alaska is never going to be given to Britain, considering bad relations between Britain and Russia.

I also doubt that anyone other than Seward would buy Alaska. No one else realized its value and by the time the US realizes it, a gold rush would have begun and Russia would no longer want to sell it.
 
The idea that the Democrats would become the dominant political party in the North following a lost Civil War is bizarre to me. It was the Democrats of the South that championed secession. In the North the Democrats were divided and falling apart. Pretty much every single free state support the Republican Platform, and except for Irish dominated urban areas the Dems had lost any chance at electing anyone to the Presidency. Even if the Civil War was lost the Republicans still far better represented the ideas, society and culture of the Northern States. Even in our timeline the Dems barely had any sway in the North until after Nixon's "Southern Strategy" that came about nearly 100 years after the end of the Civil War.

More than likely, since Confederate victory would require foreign intervention, the Republicans would rebound by rightly saying that the Democrats had betrayed the Union by forcing through a treaty that split the nation. Any Democratic victories in 1864 would be extremely short lived and likely by mid-term 1866 northern Democrats would flee to yet a new party to distance themselves from the perceived pro-slavery/pro-South slant of Democrats.

The Republican would probably remain the the moderate pro-business party while a strongly anti-slavery Liberty Party would arise to wave the bloody shirt. In the Confederacy the Democrats would form the status quo and after a while be opposed by a staunch expansionist pro-slavery party.

Any "Democrats Rule teh North!" view of a post Confederate victory Union ignores all the historical changes that had brought about the rise of the Republican Party in the first place.

Benjamin
 
The Democrats would have to win in 1864 in order for the ACW to end with a Confederate victory. As you are saying, their victories would be short-lived and the Republicans would regain control of Congress in 1866 and then the presidency in 1868, but none of these presidents or cabinets would have the foresight of Seward. Thus, Alaska would remain Russian.
 
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