On March 30, 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and Russian envoy Baron Edouard de Stoeckl signed the Treaty of Cession. With a stroke of a pen, Tsar Alexander II had ceded Alaska, his country’s last remaining foothold in North America, to the United States for US$7.2 million.

Minnesota shares a 547-mile border with Canada, most of it with Ontario. The accents are similar, and Minnesota and Minneapolis are often ranked among the best places to live.

With Justin Trudeau missing in action, the premier of Canada's largest province has anointed himself national spokesman, deflecting "51st state" jabs and instead working to sell President-elect Donald Trump on “a new American and Canadian century.