Editing Sitka, Alaska (section)

===Territorial Alaska===
[[File:Sitka chiefs 1868.jpg|thumb|Group of Distinguished Chiefs in Sitka (1868)]]
[[File:SitkaAlaska1886.jpg|thumb|Looking past downtown Sitka, up [[Indian River (Alaska)|Indian River]] valley, in an 1886 postcard. Probably taken from Castle Hill.]]
[[File:Sitka (Alaska) - NARA - 297241.jpg|thumb|Sitka in 1901]]

Sitka was the site of the transfer ceremony for the [[Alaska purchase]] on October 18, 1867. Russia was going through economic and political turmoil after it lost the [[Crimean War]] to Britain, [[France]], and the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1856, and decided it wanted to sell Alaska before British Canadians tried to conquer the territory. Russia offered to sell it to the United States. Secretary of State [[William Seward]] had wanted to purchase Alaska for quite some time, as he saw it as an integral part of [[Manifest Destiny]] and America's reach to the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfak/mfaksale.html |title=Meeting of Frontiers: Alaska — The Alaska Purchase |access-date=July 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730204803/http://memory.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfak/mfaksale.html |archive-date=July 30, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> While the agreement to purchase Alaska was made in April 1867, the actual purchase and transfer of control took place on October 18, 1867. The cost to purchase Alaska was $7.2&nbsp;million, at 2 cents per acre.

Sitka served as both the U.S. Government Capital of the Department of Alaska (1867–1884) and District of Alaska (1884–1906). The seat of government was relocated north to [[Juneau, Alaska|Juneau]] in 1906 due to the declining economic importance of Sitka relative to Juneau, which gained population in the [[Klondike Gold Rush]].