Signing The Alaska Purchase Treaty

Illustration shows Russian and American diplomats as they sign the Treaty of Cession whereby the United States bought Alaska from the Russian Empire, Washington, DC, March 30, 1867. Present are (left to right) American diplomat Robert Smith Chew (1811 - 1873), American Secretary of State William Henry Seward (1801 - 1872), American diplomat William Hunter Jr. (1805 - 1886), secretary of the Russian mission Waldemar de Bodisco (d. 1878), Russian ambassador Eduard de Stoeckl (1804 - 1892), American senator Charles Sumner (1811 - 1874), American Assistant Secretary of State, and son of the Secretary of State, Frederick William Seward (1835 - 1915). The illustration is after a painting by Emanuel Leutze. (Photo by Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)