By . Paul Donnelley . America is the land of the free but not all of its citizens are happy with that. A petition has been launched on the White House website calling for Alaska to leave the United States and rejoin Russia. The application, ‘Alaska Back to Russia’, was created by ‘S.V.’ of Anchorage, and in under a week it has already received nearly 30,000 signatures. Neighbours: Alaska and Russia are separated by the Bering Strait, just 51 miles wide at its narrowest point . We want to be Russian: The petition on the White House website asking for Alaska to be returned to Russia . Alaska became the 49th state of the union on January 3, 1959. The strangely worded petition begins ‘Groups Siberian russians (sic) crossed the Isthmus (now the Bering Strait) 16-10 thousand years ago’ and continues ‘Russian began to settle on the Arctic coast, Aleuts inhabited the Aleutian Archipelago. Governor Sarah Palin was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice presidency . ‘First visited Alaska August 21, 1732, members of the team boat "St. Gabriel »under the surveyor Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fedorov during the expedition Shestakov and DI Pavlutski 1729-1735 years . ‘Vote for secession of Alaska from the United States and joining Russia’. The petitioner does not explain how any secession would be effected, whether by referendum or some other means, reports Fox News. The White House responds to any petition that receives 100,000 signatures in 30 days and the Alaska one is running considerably short – the deadline is April 20. In 2012, a similar petition was raised calling for Texas to leave the union and it did reach the 100,000 mark. A White House spokesman at the time said: ‘Our states remain united. Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States “in order to form a more perfect union”… they did not provide a right to walk away from it.’ In any case, following the American Civil War (1861-1865) the Supreme Court ruled that unilateral secession is unconstitutional. All-American view: Mount McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska . Alaska became a U.S. territory in 1867 when it was purchased by William Seward, the Secretary of State, at 4am on March 30 after an all-night discussion with Russia, a country that was then in financial difficulty. It feared losing the territory in a possible conflict and preferred to make some money from its sale. The price was $7.2m or about 2¢ an acre. With the purchase of Alaska, the United States acquired an area twice as large as Texas. Initially, the deal was thought to be a mistake and the huge wilderness became known as ‘Seward’s Folly’. Then during the Klondike gold strike in 1896 it was discovered that the land was rich in resources such as gold, copper, and oil and its proximity to the Soviet Union was useful during the Cold War. Originally the Department of Alaska, the area became the District of Alaska and then Alaska Territory in May 1912 before being admitted to the union as a state in 1959.
Petition has 30 days to reach 100,000 signatures for White House response .
Supreme Court rules unilateral secession illegal since US Civil War .
Petition created by 'S.V.' of Anchorage but no full name given .
By . Paul Donnelley . America is the land of the free but not all of its citizens are happy with that. A petition has been launched on the White House website calling for Alaska to leave the United States and rejoin Russia. The application, ‘Alaska Back to Russia’, was created by ‘S.V.’ of Anchorage, and in under a week it has already received nearly 30,000 signatures. Neighbours: Alaska and Russia are separated by the Bering Strait, just 51 miles wide at its narrowest point . We want to be Russian: The petition on the White House website asking for Alaska to be returned to Russia . Alaska became the 49th state of the union on January 3, 1959. The strangely worded petition begins ‘Groups Siberian russians (sic) crossed the Isthmus (now the Bering Strait) 16-10 thousand years ago’ and continues ‘Russian began to settle on the Arctic coast, Aleuts inhabited the Aleutian Archipelago. Governor Sarah Palin was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice presidency . ‘First visited Alaska August 21, 1732, members of the team boat "St. Gabriel »under the surveyor Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fedorov during the expedition Shestakov and DI Pavlutski 1729-1735 years . ‘Vote for secession of Alaska from the United States and joining Russia’. The petitioner does not explain how any secession would be effected, whether by referendum or some other means, reports Fox News. The White House responds to any petition that receives 100,000 signatures in 30 days and the Alaska one is running considerably short – the deadline is April 20. In 2012, a similar petition was raised calling for Texas to leave the union and it did reach the 100,000 mark. A White House spokesman at the time said: ‘Our states remain united. Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States “in order to form a more perfect union”… they did not provide a right to walk away from it.’ In any case, following the American Civil War (1861-1865) the Supreme Court ruled that unilateral secession is unconstitutional. All-American view: Mount McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska . Alaska became a U.S. territory in 1867 when it was purchased by William Seward, the Secretary of State, at 4am on March 30 after an all-night discussion with Russia, a country that was then in financial difficulty. It feared losing the territory in a possible conflict and preferred to make some money from its sale. The price was $7.2m or about 2¢ an acre. With the purchase of Alaska, the United States acquired an area twice as large as Texas. Initially, the deal was thought to be a mistake and the huge wilderness became known as ‘Seward’s Folly’. Then during the Klondike gold strike in 1896 it was discovered that the land was rich in resources such as gold, copper, and oil and its proximity to the Soviet Union was useful during the Cold War. Originally the Department of Alaska, the area became the District of Alaska and then Alaska Territory in May 1912 before being admitted to the union as a state in 1959.
‘Alaska Back to Russia’, was created by ‘S.V.’ of signatures in 30 days and the Alaska one is reach the 100,000 mark. A White House spokesman American Civil War (1861-1865) the Supreme Court ruled that unilateral secession is