Hamilton Fish, then Secretary of State, wrote in 1873 that popular sentiment was, for the time being, against all expansion.

In fact, among the people of the United States the idea was developing that expansion was contrary to their national policy, and their indisposition to expand became almost a passion.

They rejected Santo Domingo and the Danish Islands and would not press any negotiations for Canada.
What saved the Alaska Treaty from a similar disapproval was not any conviction that Alaska was worth seven million dollars, although Sumner convinced those who took the trouble to read, that the financial bargain was not a bad one.

The chief factor in the purchase of Alaska was almost pure sentiment.

Throughout American history there has been a powerful tradition of friendliness between Russia and the United States, yet surely no two political systems have been in the past more diametrically opposed.