william seward heard about the plot from the chief of the army in washington. he was so worried he sent hisson to philadelphia frederick to get to the night train and to warn him and bring this documents. so lincoln has a long talk with this stranger pinkerton and he goes back to the hotel room and it tells you about the security, or the absence of security, there's no security. he goes to his room and i guess you don't turn on the light in those days, whatever you do. there's a stranger in his room. it's frederick seward, who he doesn't know and seward says i have to tell but a plot. lincoln doesn't say, i just heard this story. that's amazing. he said, tell me about it. and they sit for an hour and seward tells the whole story. so lincoln is pretty convinced that it's real. he still hasn't completely decided. the next day is washington's birthday. he raises the flag at independence hall in full view of people, and that's where he makes his famous statement, i would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender that. everybody has quoted it. look what

state secretary william seward who was in favor of a u.s. territorial expansion. finally in eight hundred sixty seven after lengthy negotiations alaska was sold to the united states for the price of seven point two million dollars. on october the eighteenth eight hundred sixty seven the russian flag was lowered in the former alaskan capital of sitka. in its stead america's colors were raised. today happy alaska day is one of the major holidays of the forty ninth state. during the bright show the residents of citgo reenact the procedure of handing over the flag from russians to americans. in eight hundred sixty seven the ceremony for placing the russian colony under u.s. control was much more modest. the american government was weary of accusations that they had wasted a lot of money headlines splashed across the newspapers scoffed at the purchase describing it as nothing more than a bunch of vice. rumor even had is that of the seven point two million dollars paid some two hundred thousand was given to senators in the form of kickbacks. but opinion but opinion ther

the times originally favored william seward for president of the united states in 1860. they were converted to admiration for lincoln after the cooper union address as joe mentioned a moment ago and were reliably and ardently pro lincoln in the 1860's election. in fact, i don't think anyone in any city to they can imagine this occurring from the print newspaper aside from television. the editor of the new york times campaigned across new york state into the midwest for abraham lincoln. for one quick diversion, president bill clinton wrote the preface to our book and made what seems like an obvious point but a very interesting point that the analog of the fiercely partisan newspaper editors of the nineteenth century are the commentators on ms nbc and fox today. the only difference is the commentators on ms nbc and fox are not quite willing to go so far as to say i am a john boehner republican or barack obama democrats and president clinton's recommendation in his introduction was it might not be a good idea if they did. it would make things so much simpler and more direct