Seward, William H.

1. A political leader of the nineteenth century. Seward was secretary of state under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson . He is best known for arranging the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 for seven million dollars.

Notes

Alaska was long called “Seward's Folly” and “Seward's Icebox” by people who thought that the place would show little return on the American investment in it.