USA HISTORY

The purchase of Alaska became known as Seward’s Folly.

(A) ** True

(B) False

Concept note-1: -Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. Critics attacked Seward for the secrecy surrounding the deal, which came to be known as “Seward’s folly.” The press mocked his willingness to spend so much on “Seward’s icebox” and Andrew Johnson’s “polar bear garden.”

Concept note-2: -The 1867 Treaty of Cession, in which the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian empire, marked an unusually peaceful transition.

Concept note-3: -Skeptics had dubbed the purchase of Alaska “Seward’s Folly, ” but the former Secretary of State was vindicated when a major gold deposit was discovered in the Yukon in 1896, and Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. The strategic importance of Alaska was finally recognized in World War II.

Concept note-4: -The acquisition of Alaska by the United States on March 30, 1867, was dubbed “Seward’s Folly” or ridiculed as “Seward’s Icebox” by critics at the time.