USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Seward and many other Americans believed that Asia would become an important market for the country’s products, and expected that Alaska would serve as a base for American trade with Asia and globally and for American power in the Pacific.

Detailed explanation-2: -But the citizens of 1867 saw no real value in colonizing Alaska. All fishing and crabbing could be done on the west coast up to Washington. And so the called it “Seward’s Folly” thinking he had just thrown away $7.2 million.

Detailed explanation-3: -Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden, ” among other derogatory names.

Detailed explanation-4: -It’s been called “Seward’s Folly, ” but it could just as well be known as “Sumner’s Project.” As history books tell the story, in 1867 Secretary of State William Seward secretly negotiated with Russian officials to purchase the Alaskan territory for $7.2 million, putting Alaska on the road toward statehood in 1959.