The purchase of Alaska is part of…

The purchase of Alaska is part of American Secretary of State William H. Seward's plan to incorporate the entire northwest Pacific Coast, chiefly for the long-term commercial advantages to the United States in terms of Pacific trade.

Seward believes that the people in British Columbia want annexation and that Britain will accept this in exchange for the Alabama claims.

In the event, Seward drops the idea of an exchange and accepts an arbitration plan that settles the Alabama claims for cash.

When a false report circulates in April, soon after the Alaska news, that the British government is considering settling the claims by ceding the colony, a substantial annexation movement appears, supported by many British Columbians and three of the colony's six newspapers.