Jeff Ludwig, Ph.D., is director of education at the Seward House Museum in Auburn. William Henry Seward (1801-1872) was a state senator, governor of New York, a U.S. Senator, and served as Secretary of State in the Lincoln and Johnson administrations.

By Jeff Ludwig | Special to Syracuse.com

Along with the rest of the staff of the Seward House Museum in Auburn, I enjoyed reading “Before Trump eyed Greenland” in last week’s Post-Standard. We talk a lot with our visitors about former Secretary of State William Seward’s motivations behind the 1867 Alaska Purchase, an exciting story of intrigue and diplomacy that comes to life every day in his historic house museum. Besides Seward’s friendships with Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman, his so-called “Folly” is perhaps the thing visitors most associate with him when entering our doors. For good reason: The Alaska purchase from Russia dramatically changed not only the map of Seward’s America, but presaged a dawning age of growth and empire that saw the U.S. forever alter its place on the world stage. There’s little wonder that President Donald Trump, eyeing his place in history, finds himself likewise seeking to rewrite American cartography by floating the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark.

The president is hardly the first leader to consider this; he’s not even the first Republican from the Empire State to attempt acquiring Greenland. William Seward nearly beat him to it in the immediate aftermath of his Alaskan transaction. Even while the Alaska purchase was playing out — it took almost seven months between March 1867, when Seward first struck his deal, and that October, when the U.S. took possession of the territory — the powerful Secretary of State was looking to gild the expansionist lily. Finding Denmark considerably more amenable to selling than the current president, Seward was wheeling and dealing with his counterparts in Copenhagen. He came to terms very similar to the Alaskan bottom line (the enormous, erstwhile Russian colony had cost the U.S. $7.2 million): $7.5 million for much of the Danish West Indies, only to have Congress scuttle the treaty.

Jeff Ludwig is director of education at the Seward House Museum in Auburn. (Provided photo)

It was around this time that Seward also began to openly covet Greenland. As with their Caribbean holdings, the Danes appeared primed to sell their northern island possessions, as well. Seward put the power of the State Department to work at once, commissioning scientists and political partisans to produce a report on the virtues of Greenland. The final document — which Seward had printed and distributed — was hardly objective in its findings. Reflecting Seward’s eagerness to paint as favorable a portrait as possible, the tract gushed over the “largest island in the world’s” potential, “a land more than half the size of Europe” with the sheer magnitude to capture the public’s romantic imagination. In addition to size, Greenland was extolled for its “unusual healthfulness,” abundance of game and rich fisheries, and mineable natural resources. Even better, at a time when the British were consolidating their grip over a confederating Canada, Greenland offered strategic geographical importance. With Alaska to the west and Greenland to the east, Seward’s report declared that the U.S. “will flank British America for thousands of miles … and greatly increase her inducements, peacefully and cheerfully, to become a part of the American Union.” In short: Sandwiched between Alaska and Greenland, Canada would be the next domino to fall.

What a magnificent encore this must have seemed to Seward, who was ever conscious of his legacy, as he faced retirement in the twilight of his long career. At the time of his Greenland bid, Seward was six years younger than the current president is now, holding the last job he would ever have, and looking to leave a lasting mark for posterity. It must have felt tantalizingly close to his grasp.

Seward’s dream of Greenland never came to pass, in many ways for reasons the Trump administration might recognize today. Harsh political realities interceded, thwarting Seward’s visions of growing the republic. We are bitterly divided as a nation at present, perhaps more so than at any time in our country’s history since the bitter days of the Reconstruction era when Seward served under the deeply unpopular, scandal-ridden President Andrew Johnson. Still raw from the bloody Civil War and the death of Abraham Lincoln, acrimony prevailed in Washington then. Congress effectively ceased to work with the president and passed legislation over his vetoes; an impeachment proceeding overshadowed much of Johnson’s late term. Seward found himself guilty by association with Lincoln’s successor, reviled even by members of his own Republican Party, which operated in radical opposition to the executive branch of government. Out of spite for Johnson, Alaska became pilloried as an “icebox,” “polar bear garden,” and, eventually, a folly. Refusing to grant the administration anything approaching another political victory, Congress refused to consider buying Denmark’s West Indies (later purchased and renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands), let alone take seriously Seward’s pitch for Greenland.

Now, as the Trump administration ponders its place in history, we might all do well to search for historical parallels and remember what came before. Quixotic, elusive dreams rarely come true.

Related links:

Before Trump eyed Greenland: the last time US bought a chunk of the Arctic (Commentary)

Trump cancels Denmark visit because Greenland isn’t for sale