Dan Burton: “Mr. Speaker, in 1860, at the Wigwam Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, a man named William Seward marched around…”

“Mr. Speaker, in 1860, at the Wigwam Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, a man named William Seward marched around with his crowd of supporters, and he got to the convention center too late because the gallery was stacked with supporters for a guy named Abraham Lincoln. As a result of his getting there a little bit too late on the third ballot, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States, and Mr. Seward lost, and he was the favorite. He was the odds-on favorite to be the Republican nominee for President and to be the next President of the United States. Well, he lost, and it was a crushing blow for him. Yet, later on, Abraham Lincoln saw the qualities of William Seward, and he appointed him his Secretary of State, and Secretary of State Seward did an outstanding job in that capacity. The thing he did best, in my opinion, was in making sure that the United States purchased Alaska. He purchased Alaska for $7.2 million, and it was the best buy, by far, of anything that this country has ever done.”