"Seward's Folly"

• Secretary of State Seward (an expansionist) signed a treaty with Russia to buy Alaska for $7.2 million 
• America was still preoccupied with Reconstruction and internal issues & called it Seward’s Folly
• Still allowed for the purchase b/c they didn’t want to offend the tsar of Russia, who had been friendly during the Civil War, and hoped it would have valuable natural resources