2008 42c Flags of Nation, AK coin FDC

2008 42¢ Flags of Our Nation
Alaska Coin Cover

This Flags of Our Nation Coin Cover features the Alaska stamp from the Flags of Our Nation Series, two uncirculated state quarters, and a cachet, or picture, that reflects the history of the state.

Alaska’s 2008 Flags of Our Nation Coin First Day Cover bears the Alaska state flag stamp and state quarter. Adopted in 1927 as the territorial flag, the Alaska state flag predicted its future as America’s northernmost state. The Alaska state quarter features a grizzly bear near a waterfall as well as the North Star, a common symbol of the state’s location. The cover art pictures the mountainside town of Sitka (or New Archangel), the capital of Russian Alaska (present-day Alaska) in 1869, two years after America purchased it from Russia.

In 1802, a group of Tlingit (natives of the area) destroyed the establishment of Redoubt Saint Michael. Two years later, supported by Russian and Aleut troops, Baranov launched an attack on the natives’ village, sending them into the nearby forest. Baranov established a fort named Novoarkhangelsk, or New Archangel, after the Russian city Arkhangelsk. Sitka was adopted as the capital of Russian Alaska in 1808.

By 1867, the Russian government was in financial trouble and feared losing the Alaska territory without compensation. As a result, they entered into negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State William Seward. The U.S. purchased the 586,412 square mile territory for $7.2 million. The transaction was nicknamed “Seward’s Folly,” because many people felt it was foolish to purchase so much land so far away.