On October 18 in 1867, just a little more than two years after the nation ended a Civil War, the United States took control of Alaska. The U.S. had bought the land for 2 cents an acre for a total of $7.2 million.
Seward’s Folly
Secretary of State William Henry Seward pushed for the controversial purchase, so critics dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly.” Seward and President Andrew Johnson, who would be impeached a year later, were eventually vindicated in the Alaska deal.
Gold was discovered in Alaska in 1896. And today, after the territory became a state in 1959, the state is a treasure of oil and other natural resources. One other benefit is my favorite song about the state, Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage,” off her debut album Short Sharp Shocked
Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage”
In the song “Anchorage,” a singer who lives in New York City describes how she wrote a letter to her friend in Dallas, but the reply came back from Anchorage, Alaska. The rest of the song recites the letter from Alaska.
In the letter, the friend does not complain about her life in Alaska. Butut in her description, you sense some longing for the life of her big city singer friend.
Leroy got a better job so we moved;
Kevin lost a tooth, he’s started school;
I’ve got a brand new eight month old baby girl;
I sound like a housewife;
Hey ‘Shelle, I think I’m a housewife.
“Anchorage” is a beautiful song about friends and how we end up in places with our lives where we may not have planned. One senses the singer also may think the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.
Yet, the words and the way the song is sung reflect affection, not envy. If Michelle Shocked, who grew up in East Texas, wrote another song in the form of a letter from New York City back to her old friend in Anchorage, I wonder what she would say.
Shocked’s song gives a voice to someone you might not think about. In the history-book version about adding all that beautiful land to the United States, we often hear about the later gold rush and the building of a new state. But one should not forget the role of all of the regular people, especially including the overlooked women and natives, just getting by day-to-day.
As we have been reminded with events around the world, society is not just the Andrew Johnsons and other politicians. It is also made up of the rockers and the anchored-down folks.
Map illustration via Eric Gaba.