Sewards Day
Secretary of State William Seward brokered a steal of a deal in late night negotiations that resulted in a signed treaty at 4:00AM on March 30th, 1867. However, that did not prevent his detractors from mocking him for buying a “frozen ice box”. The cartoon below, which ran in Harper’s Weekly, captured the sentiment of a lot of Americans when it was announced that we gave the Russians $7.2 million for what was originally called “The Department of Alaska”.
According to https://www.thealaskalife.com/blog/sewards-day/
Secretary Seward is depicted as an elderly mom who is consoling the upset child, President Andrew Johnson, who is looking at his own image as “King Andy”. Uncle Sam is shown in the “Map of the Russian Fairyland” on the wall trudging in snowshoes across the icy tundra, planting American flags on Alaskan mountaintops, while the polar bears and walruses watch. A picture of an Eskimo family is disparagingly labeled “One of the Advantages.” All for “only” (sarcasm intended) $7 million in gold!
If you are from the GREAT STATE OF ALASKA, then you know that Seward's Folly was one of the best things that could have happened during Andy Jackson's presidency or any presidency. Alaska today brings diversity, oil, timber, incredible amounts of animals in the land, air, and sea.
Here is a site with 50 interesting facts about Alaska.
And this is a place I call HOME- I am an Alaskan from Texas or is that a Texas Alaskan?? Who wouldn't want that same designation?
And so, as a writer, I want to write about it. Here is my first, it is in the anthology we put out in February this year.
So, come and see what Alaska is all about first hand and I bet the old saying that once you've seen Alaska you will just have to come back.
No comments:
Post a Comment