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> America is not buying up bits of land elsewhere.

What I always said about the Bush wars. For the cost of those wars, we could have bought all of rural Canada.

I don't think that would work; 89% of Canada is owned by the Crown. I doubt the Crown would allow even a substantial fraction of Canada to be sold to America. It's not as though they're strapped for cash, so what's in it for them?

Alaska was owned by the Tsar of Russia and they sold us Alaska. Who knows what kind of deal could have been struck with the Saxe-Coburg despot.

Leading me to ask, was the land not offered to the UK or were they not interested?

Russia viewed America as an irrelevant overseas novelty, which was probably correct at that time. Britain was their great rival.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Game

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