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The Alaska purchase agreement allows a buyer to submit an offer to the seller. It will be considered a legally-binding contract if both parties agree to the sale price and contingencies. The contract typically includes an earnest money deposit sent to the real estate agent's escrow account upon acceptance.

Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States in 1859, believing the United States would off-set the designs of Russia's greatest rival in the Pacific, Great Britain.

But, after losing the Crimean War to Britain, France, and Turkey in 1856, the tsar was in no mood to negotiate with Great Britain or to see Alaska absorbed by a recent enemy. Russia thus turned to the only other potential buyer, the United States.

In Alaska, the Americans foresaw a potential for gold, fur and fisheries, as well as more trade with China and Japan. The Americans worried that England might try to establish a presence in the territory, and the acquisition of Alaska ? it was believed ? would help the U.S. become a Pacific power.

On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.

Earnest money is a buyer's deposit to move forward on a home purchase. It is usually held by a third party and its terms are agreed to in the purchase contract. Like many things in the home purchase, some parts can be negotiated.