Why did people call the purchase of Alaskan lands Seward's Folly?

Answer 1

Because, after Secretary of State William Henry Seward bought Alaska in 1867, most people thought that the land was useless and that it was absurd for Seward to have spent the money to buy such a place.

Answer 2

Political opponents of the Johnson administration used yellow journalism and misinformation to discredit Secretary of State Seward's negotiations, and urge to purchase Alaska. A folly is a frill, an ornament, a window dressing with no real or implied value and the term was meant to disparage the political regime sponsoring it as a waste of money.

Answer 3

At the time, the purchase was popularly known in the U.S. as "Seward's Folly," or "Seward's Icebox," (after William Seward, Secretary of State) because it was a cold wasteland, only really containing polar bears and coldness and was unpopular at the time.

It was not until later Alaska's vast mineral wealth would be discovered.
Well They Probably Did, But Didn't Know At The Time.

Answer 4

Because the felt that buying Alaska was a waste of money.

Answer 5

Alaska could never amount to anything. Nothing could ever be grown in Alaska and we already had plenty of trees.

Answer 6

Most could not believe that Alaska could ever be inhabited and had no known value or strategic purpose.