Which lands did the US buy in its history?
Republican members of the US House of Representatives have drafted a bill that will allow Donald Trump to start negotiations with Denmark on January 20 to buy Greenland.
Earning land by paying dollars is customary for Americans. They already obtained almost half of the country's territory in this way.
Danish Islands
It's not the first time that Americans think about the idea of buying Greenland. In 1867, US Secretary of State William Henry Seward supported this idea. However, at that time, this idea did not find much agreement among the citizens. In 1910, the American government returned to this idea. Maurice Francis Egan, U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, presented a complex plan that suggested that Denmark give Greenland to the United States and in return for it to take the island of Mindanao in the south of the Philippines. Denmark hoped to replace this island with lands lost half a century ago in the Austro-Prussian-Danish War. These lands were South Jutland or Schleswig as German. However, this plan was never implemented and Denmark lost Jutland in 1920. It regained it at the end of World War II.
The US did not resort to complicated plans in its next attempt on Danish territory and offered $25 million for the Virgin Islands alone. This amount was equivalent to almost half of Denmark's annual budget at the time. In the referendum held in 1916, 64.2 percent of the people living in the Danish mainland voted for the sale of the area. Those living on the islands almost completely supported joining the USA. On January 17, 1917, the United States concluded the agreement. However, the islanders had to wait 10 years to get an American passport.
But the Americans did not let go of Greenland. In 1946, President Harry Truman offered Denmark $100 million for Greenland, which additionally promised some of the oil deposits in Alaska. Finally, in 1967, under Lyndon Johnson, the State Department asked Denmark if they would sell Greenland and Iceland. However, the Americans received a rejection in both cases.
Now, to make a deal, it is necessary to negotiate with Greenland itself rather than Denmark. In 1979, the Danish parliament (Folketing) granted the island a broad autonomy. So much so that 10 years later, Greenland left the European Economic Community (EEC, the predecessor of the EU) defending the right to seal, but Denmark remained a member of the union. In 2009, the region gained even wider autonomy. Now Denmark is only responsible for the island's foreign policy and defense. Of course, it subsidies half of its budget.
Following Donald Trump's recent statements, Denmark's King Frederik implied that he would not give Greenland, even by changing the kingdom's coat of arms. In the past, a quarter of the shield had three crown symbols representing Greenland (white bear), the Faroe Islands (coach) and Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
The prime minister of Greenland's autonomous government, Mute Egede, stated that the island is not for sale, and that he cares about its independence from both the USA and Denmark. The Aegean plans to take "important steps" for the separation of Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark after the parliamentary elections in 2025. Fortunately, Danish law makes this possible.
French Plantations
America began to buy its land from the Native Indians almost for free. For example, in 1626, New Dutch Governor Peter Minuit paid items worth 60 guilders of jewelry, clothes and knives for the island of Manhattan. Now, with the sum of these items, not even a single square meter can be bought there.
The whites sold their land much more expensive than the Indians, but sometimes they also managed to close it cheaply. The largest land deal came in 1803 when the US bought Louisiana from the French. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to buy the strategically important port of New Orleans for the trade route on the Mississippi River and some surrounding territory for $10 million. However, Napoleon surprised the Americans and offered to sell the entire colony for 15 million dollars, that is, the hectare, for 7 cents.
This meant an area of 2.1 million square kilometers; it was twice the size of the US at that time. Currently, these territories are located on the states of Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Nebraska, and parts of Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, North, and South Dakota. The reason for this generous proposal of Napoleon was simple: the future emperor knew that he did not have the military power to protect his overseas territory from England.
Spanish Coast
A similar situation was true for the Spaniards. Spain realized that it could not protect Florida, which regained its control with the Treaty of Versailles. There was no clear boundary between American and Spanish territory extending along the 31st parallel, so the U.S. military regularly entered foreign territory. For example, to suppress fugitive slaves who settled in the Prospect Bluff castle or to control the Seminole tribes living there.
As a result, the Adams-Onís Treaty was signed on February 22, 1819. Accordingly, while Spain gave up its territorial claims on Florida, the USA renounced its claims on Spanish Texas. Spain did not receive any monetary compensation, but the United States assumed all compensation claims to the Spanish government during the Florida struggle. For three years, a special commission collected complaints and ultimately paid about $5.5 million in compensation.
Mexican Meadows
Spain was worried in vain about the fate of Texas: soon lost this region, along with Mexico, which gained independence in 1821. In 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico, retaining it through armed struggle, and joined the United States 10 years later, becoming the 28th state. All this led to the Mexican-American War between 1846-1848, and Mexico lost the war.
According to the terms of the peace treaty, Mexico transferred 1.3 million square kilometers of land to the United States and officially recognized the loss of Texas. Mexico's area has decreased by about 40 percent. Currently, this ancient Mexican territory is located on California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and part of Wyoming. The United States paid $15 million in compensation for this land and, as in the agreement with the Spaniards, assumed all the compensation claims to the Mexican government, which meant an additional $3.25 million.
In 1854, Mexico sold Southern California to the United States. Currently, this land is part of the states of Arizona and New Mexico. James Gadsden, the US Ambassador to Mexico, had a large share in this sale. Prior to his diplomatic assignment, Gadsden worked as president of the South Carolina Railway Company and lobbied to build a railway line from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Gadsden convinced Mexican President Santa Anna to sell an area of 120 thousand square kilometers for 10 million dollars.
However, this agreement caused discontent among the Mexican people and Santa Anna was overthrown the following year. The new railway project was disrupted. First, the sector entered a crisis, then the Civil War started in the USA. As a result, the first transcontinental railway tracks in the lands bought by Gadsden could only be laid in 1878.
Russian Valleys
At the beginning of the century, Russia was also buying land in America. In the area of modern California, the Russians built the Fort Ross fort and paid from the Indians with ordinary and cheap items such as jewelry, clothes, axes. However, there was no American administration in California at that time. This land was first under the control of Spain, then became part of independent Mexico and was purchased by the United States in 1848, but this time without Russian settlement.
Fort Ross was founded by the Russian-American Company, a semi-state colonial trading company. The company's capital belonged entirely to Russia, and the _expression_ “American” in its name referred to the continent in which it operated. The company was farming, shipbuilding, and fur trading in California to support Russian settlements in Alaska. However, things got worse as the years passed. In 1841, Fort Ross and other assets were sold to Swiss-born Mexican entrepreneur John Sutter. Seven years later, the first gold was found in California and the "on-gold" era began.
Fort Ross was sold for only 42 thousand 857 rubles. With this money, a beautiful mansion could be bought in the center of Moscow at that time. According to one claim, Sutter did not fully pay: One-third paid in cash, some with wheat at a high price, and not at all. According to another claim, all debts to Russia were closed after the "gold attack" began. In 2014, Mihail Degtyarev, a member of the State Duma, suggested to the Russian Foreign Ministry to cancel the sale and restore American territory to Russia due to the non-fulfillment of the terms of the agreement.
Russian North
Alaska was not Katerina, as claimed in a famous song, but in 1867, II. Alexander sold it. There were several reasons for this. First, Russia was facing an economic crisis. Money was needed to pay the interest of the loan from the Rothschildler. Secondly, the tsar thought that overseas territory was not sufficiently protected and therefore could be easily captured. At that time, gold was found in Alaska and the region was full of adventurers. The Russian authorities did not have the opportunity to control them.
The land was sold for $7.2 million to the US, which was in friendly relations at the time. This amount was less than 10 percent of the loan received from the Rothschilds and was cheaper than 5 cents per hectare. Despite this inconvenie price, the US was not very willing to buy. The Russians had to convince and even bribe American politicians. Russian Ambassador Eduard Stoeckl spent $144 thousand on bribes, and yet the decision to buy Alaska was accepted by only one vote in the US Senate. Those who opposed the agreement called the new land "Seward's refrigerator" (the name of Foreign Minister Seward, who wanted to buy Greenland) and accused the government of wasting money. However, the "gold rush" more than covered all the costs of the USA.
There is a myth that the money paid for Alaska never reached Russia. Rumor has it that the money was transferred to England, gold bars were purchased and on the ship "Orkney" in St. He was sent to Petersburg. But the ship sank on the way and the company that insured the cargo went bankrupt by paying only partial compensation. In reality, State Archive documents show that American money was purchased equipment for the Kursk-Kiev, Ryazan-Kozlov and Moscow-Ryazan railways.
Philippine Forests
In 1896, the people of the Philippines revolted against the Spanish rule. They were looking for an ally in the struggle for independence, and this ally could be the United States. The Americans promised support and declared war on Spain two years later. The war ended quickly with the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in December 1898. According to the treaty, the USA took Puerto Rico and the islands of Guam (regions not included in the United States but under its administration). He also had control over Cuba and the Philippines.
But the situation with the Philippines was not very nice. A few months before the end of the war, the Philippines declared its independence, but the US did not recognize it. Instead, the Americans wrote to the Paris Treaty that they bought these islands from Spain for $20 million. The islanders were outraged that they found a new owner instead of independence. President of the Philippines Emilio Aguinaldo openly mentioned a new war, and the war began soon after.
The fuse of the clashes was ignited by the death of a Filipino on the night of February 4, 1899. Probably because he did not speak English, he accidentally broke into a US military base and was shot by the guard. The American military quickly defeated the Filipino militias, but guerrilla warfare began in the country. Officially, the war ended with Aguinaldo, who was captured in 1902, recognized American rule, but the guerrilla attacks continued for another 10 years. The war cost the US $600 million, that is, 30 times the amount paid to Spain. The Filipinos, on the other hand, ended their struggle by gaining autonomy from the USA in 1935 and full independence in 1946.