CLEP US History II

Answer: B - The U.S. purchase of the Alaska Territory from Russia in 1867 was known as “Seward’s Folly,” named for Secretary of State William Seward, who promoted the purchase. Many considered it a strategic and financial disaster, which inspired the event’s nickname. However, the two-cents-per-acre buying price, coupled with the immense natural resources later appraised in the territory, proved the purchase a shrewd acquisition.