Why was the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867 called "Seward's Folly"? O Americans didn't want to own a territory so far from the mainland and so close to Russia. Americans thought Alaska was nothing but a frozen wasteland and had no resources to offer. O The United States had already annexed Samoa, and didn't need another Pacific territory. O Americans thought the two-cents per acre price tag for Alaska was too expensive.​