William Henry Seward

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William Henry Seward

Born May 16, 1801
Florida, New York
Died October 10, 1872
Auburn, New York

Secretary of state in the
Lincoln and Johnson administrations

William Henry Seward was an important political figure throughout the Civil War era. In the 1840s and 1850s, he became known as one of America's leading advocates of abolitionism (the movement to end slavery). During the war, he joined the administration of President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; see entry) as secretary of state and became one of the president's most trusted advisors. Seward remained in his position as secretary of state through the first years of Reconstruction (the period from 1865 to 1877 during which the Southern states were rebuilt and rejoined the United States) as well. During this period, Seward supported President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875; see entry) and his generous policies toward the South and negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia.

Growing up in rural New York

William Henry Seward was born in 1801 in Florida, New York, a small village in the southern region of the state. His father was Samuel Seward, a wealthy landowner who was very strict with young William and his five brothers and sisters. His mother was Mary Jennings, who treated her children with kindness and affection.

As a boy, Seward had his full share of chores around the family farm. Health problems bothered him throughout his childhood, though, leading his parents to wonder if he had the strength to succeed at farming or other strenuous pursuits. "My health caused me to be early set apart for a collegiate education, [which was regarded at the time] by every family . . . as a privilege so high and so costly that not more than one son could expect it," remembered Seward.

In 1816, Seward's father enrolled him in Union College, an all-male school in Schenectady, New York. Seward excelled in his studies, graduating four years later with top honors. In October 1822, he passed the state bar exam, which enabled him to practice law in New York. Soon after passing the exam, he accepted a position at a law firm in Auburn, New York, where he maintained a home for the rest of his life. In 1824, he married a local girl named Frances Miller, with whom he eventually had four children.

Law and politics

Seward's law practice became very successful during the 1820s. As the years passed, however, Seward never really warmed up to the idea of being an attorney. Instead, he became attracted to local and state politics. In 1830, he was elected to the state senate, where he quickly emerged as one of New York's brightest young legislators. He maintained his flourishing law practice during this time, but devoted most of his energy to his senatorial duties.

In the mid-1830s, Seward became a dedicated member of the Whigs, a new political party that believed in a strong national bank, high tariffs (taxes on imported goods), and social reforms designed to help poor people. In 1834, he ran for governor of New York as the Whig nominee, only to be decisively defeated. Four years later, however, he won the governor's office by a sizable margin.

Governor of New York

Seward served as governor of New York for two terms, from 1839 to 1843. During this time he became widely known for his efforts to improve education, increase economic development, expand state canal and railroad systems, and improve conditions in prisons. He worked hard to expand educational opportunities for immigrant children, for example, and tried to relieve the terrible conditions in the New York prison system.

Seward's opposition to slavery also became evident during this period. He endorsed bills that increased the civil rights of both free blacks and fugitive slaves, and changed laws to make it easier for black children to obtain an education. Seward's views on slavery became even better known, however, when he got in a bitter fight with Virginia slaveowners.

Seward's dispute with Virginia erupted in 1839, when three black sailors from New York state unsuccessfully attempted to smuggle (secretly carry) a Virginia slave aboard their ship. When Virginia's governor learned about the scheme, he demanded that the three sailors be turned over to Virginia officials for trial. Seward responded by launching an attack on the institution of slavery and ignoring Virginia's demands. "There is no law of this State which recognizes slavery, no statute which admits that one man can be the property of another, or that one man can be stolen from another," wrote Seward. "[The sailors' act] is not a felony [major crime] nor a crime within the meaning of the constitution." The New York governor's stand "placed Seward squarely in the antislavery camp at a time when the abolitionists were gaining prominence on the national political scene," wrote John M. Taylor in William Henry Seward: Lincoln's Right Hand.

Seward joins the U.S. Senate

Seward decided not to seek the governorship of New York in 1842. The political battles of the previous few years had exhausted him, and he decided that he needed to take a break. He returned to his law practice, where he made enough money to pay off several large debts that he had accumulated as governor.

By the mid-1840s, though, Seward's enthusiasm for politics had returned. In 1849, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where his criticism of slavery intensified. Alarmed at Southern efforts to expand slavery into America's western territories, he warned of a future war between the slavery-dependent South and the Northern states, where slavery was increasingly viewed as immoral. In the mid-1850s, Seward left the Whig Party, which was falling apart because of disagreements over slavery. He joined a new antislavery party known as the Republicans.

Within a matter of months, Seward emerged as one of the leading antislavery voices of the new party. On October 25, 1858, for example, he delivered a famous speech in Rochester, New York, where he warned of an approaching "irrepressible conflict" between the South's slave-based economy and the North's free labor economy. "The United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation or entirely a free-labor nation," he stated. "I know, and you know, that a revolution has begun. . . . While the government of the United States, under the conduct of the Democratic party, has been all that time surrendering one plain and castle after another to slavery, the people of the United States have been no less steadily and perseveringly [persistently] gathering together the forces with which to recover back again all the fields and castles that have been lost."

By 1860, Seward was completing his second full term as senator (he was reelected in 1855) and thinking about running for president of the United States. After all, he was one of America's best known political leaders, and he knew he could count on support from many influential Republican Party leaders. As the time drew near for Republicans to select their candidate for president in the fall 1860 elections, Seward was sure that he would win the nomination.

As it turned out, however, Seward did not receive the party's nomination. Some delegates (representatives) opposed him because of his past policies as New York governor. Others voted against him because they knew that Seward's strong antislavery reputation would make him unpopular with Southern voters. These factors enabled a relatively unknown politician named Abraham Lincoln to capture the Republican nomination for the presidency. Lincoln's victory shocked Seward and his supporters, as well as the rest of the nation. But after spending a few weeks at his home in Auburn, Seward actively campaigned for Lincoln's election.

The American Civil War begins

In November 1860, widespread support from Northern voters enabled Lincoln to defeat Democratic candidates Stephen Douglas (1813–1861) and Vice President John C. Breckinridge (1821–1875) to become the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln's victory infuriated America's Southern states, though. Republicans had hoped that their decision to nominate Lincoln instead of a "radical abolitionist" like Seward would reassure white Southerners that the party wanted to settle North-South differences over slavery through negotiation and compromise. But most white Southerners believed that all Republicans were alike. They worried that Lincoln would take immediate steps to abolish (eliminate) slavery, which they viewed as the cornerstone of their economic and social lives.

As a result, a number of Southern states seceded from (left) the United States following Lincoln's election. With their enemies in control of the U.S. government, they felt that the only way they could protect their rights as independent states was to leave the Union. But it soon became clear that the North was willing to fight to keep the Southern states in the Union. Within a matter of months, the two sides were at war.

Lincoln's secretary of state

When Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860, he asked Seward to serve as his secretary of state. Seward accepted the position, which was the most important one in the entire cabinet (a group of advisors who guide various departments of government). Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., however, Seward acted as if he were the president. Skeptical about Lincoln's abilities to lead the country, he lectured the president about various policy issues and tried to dictate military strategy.

Seward's actions angered Lincoln. But the president knew that the New York native was a bright legislator and a talented statesman. As a result, he skillfully neutralized Seward's maneuvers until mid-1861, when the secretary of state realized that Lincoln knew what he was doing. From that point on, Seward accepted his role and became an important member of the Lincoln administration.

As the Civil War progressed, Seward proved his value to Lincoln in many ways. For example, Lincoln recognized that if Great Britain or France declared support for the Confederate government, the Union might have to let the Southern states go or risk a disastrous trade war with Europe. Seward used his diplomatic skills to convince Great Britain and France to withhold recognition of the Confederacy's claim of independence. He also intervened to prevent foreign nations from providing the South with ships, weapons, and other supplies.

By the time the war ended in the spring of 1865, Seward had become a close friend and trusted advisor to Lincoln. After all, they had spent the previous four years laboring together to restore the Union and defending each other from critics who did not like their wartime policies. On April 14, 1865, however, their friendship and alliance came to a tragic end. That evening, fanatical Southern sympathizers attacked both men in separate incidents. Seward was attacked in the bedroom of his Washington, D.C., home, where he was recovering from a carriage accident. He suffered several stab wounds at the hands of Lewis Paine, but survived the assault. Lincoln was murdered by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Washington's Ford Theatre.

"Seward's Folly"

Lincoln's death vaulted Vice President Andrew Johnson into the presidency on April 15, 1865. Seward continued to serve as secretary of state in the Johnson administration. He supported Johnson's Reconstruction policies, which were widely criticized for being too lenient on the South. Defending Johnson's approach to restoring the Southern states to the Union, Seward argued that "history shows that the more generous and magnanimous [forgiving] the conqueror to the conquered, the sooner victory has been followed by conciliation and a lasting peace."

In 1867, Seward made his most remarkable postwar contribution when he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Some people referred to the acquisition of Alaska as "Seward's Folly," because they could not believe that he had paid so much money for a distant land of ice and mountains. As time passed, however, Americans realized that Seward's purchase of the land was one of the great bargains of all time.

Seward left his government position in March 1869, when Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885; see entry) became president of the United States. He returned to Auburn, but soon became restless in retirement. He subsequently went on a tour of the world with some family friends. Shortly after his return to Auburn, however, his health began to decline. He died on October 10, 1872.