William H. Seward
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Image:William seward.JPG William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.
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Family
His parents were Samuel Sweezy Seward and Mary (Jennings) Seward. He was married to Frances Adeline Miller. They had two daughters and three sons. The daughters were Cornelia Seward (1835-1836) and Frances Adeline (Fanny) Seward (1844-1866). The three sons were William Henry Seward, Jr. (1839-1920), Frederick William Seward (1835-1915) and Augustus Henry Seward (1826-1876).
Education
Seward was born in Florida, New York, a community (which since has incorporated as a village) in Orange County, New York . He attended Union College, studying law, and graduated in 1820, with high honors. He became anti-slavery, which meant he opposed the expansion of slavery and was pro-free soil, after observing the conditions of slavery while working in Georgia. He then read law in Florida, New York and Goshen, New York and joined his practice with his father-in-law, Judge Elijah Miller, in Auburn, New York. He stopped his law practice to become a politician when he was elected to the New York senate. In between his terms as state senator and governor of New York, he served in 1836 as a local agent for the Holland Land Company in Westfield, New York.
New York politics
Seward served as a state senator of New York from 1831 to 1834, and as Governor of New York from 1839 to 1843. He promoted progressive political policies including prison reform and increased spending on education, including the idea of schools for immigrants taught in their own language and by members of their own religion.
Services to the United States
He was elected United States Senator from New York from 1849 through 1861. In 1849 he won as a Whig and emerged as the leader of its anti-slavery wing. An opponent of the Fugitive Slave Act, he defended runaway slaves in court. Seward believed that there was a "higher law" than the Constitution, claiming that slavery was morally wrong. He used this as a justification in defending runaways and in his support of personal liberty laws. In 1850 Seward voted against the Compromise of 1850 and claimed in a speech that if slavery were not abolished, America would become embroiled in a civil war. He continued to argue this point of view over the next ten years. He presented himself as the leading enemy of the Slave Power--that is the conspiracy of southern slaveowners to seize the government and defeat the progress of liberty.
With the decline in the fortunes of the Whig Party, Seward joined the Republican Party in 1855 and was reelected senator from New York. By this time Seward had moderated his views and became less associated with the group known as the Radical Republicans. Seward lost the presidential nomination to John C. Frémont in 1856. He was expected to get the nomination in 1860 but many of the delegates feared that his radical past would prevent him from winning the election. However, radicals such as Horace Greeley also opposed him because they were angry at his shift to the right. When Abraham Lincoln won the nomination Seward loyally supported him and made a long speaking tour of the West in the autumn of 1860.
Abraham Lincoln appointed him Secretary of State in 1861 and he served until 1869. During the War, Seward established a secret police force, which arrested thousands of citizens for disloyalty. Most who were arrested were engaged in sabotage, spying, disruption of the draft, or promoting insurrection [Neely 1991]. Few were properly political prisoners, but of those who were, this was often the result of overzealous generals. While the administration did not want to undermine the generals in the field, the existence of political prisoners was cause for embarrassment within the administration. Arrested citizens were not told the reason for their arrest, no investigation of their alleged wrongdoing was carried out, and no trials were held. Seward boasted to the British Ambassador, Lord Lyons, that he could have any man arrested in any state at a whim. Seward survived an assassination attempt on April 14, 1865 (the same night Abraham Lincoln was shot) from Lewis Powell (alias: Lewis Payne), an associate of John Wilkes Booth, who broke into Seward's bedroom and stabbed him repeatedly.
As Secretary of State, he fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska which he finally negotiated to acquire from Russia for $7,200,000 on March 30, 1867. He had claimed that the United States must move westward. This translated into approximately 2 cents per acre ($4.94 per km²) for 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²) of territory, more than twice the size of Texas. The purchase of this frontier land ("Seward's Icebox") was mocked as "Seward's Folly" and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden". Currently, Alaska celebrates the purchase on Seward's Day, the last Monday of March.
Later life
He spent his last years traveling and writing. He visited Alaska and went around the world. Seward died in his home in Auburn, New York after a brief illness.
His portrait appeared on the 1891 series fifty dollar treasury note. Examples of this note are very rare and would likely sell for about $50,000.00 at auction. The town of Seward, Alaska, and the Seward Peninsula, also in Alaska, are named for him, as is Seward Park in Seattle, Washington, and the Town of Seward, NY. There is a statue of him in Madison Square Park in New York City and in Volunteer Park (facing towards Alaska). There is also a peak in the Adirondack Mountains of New York named after the former senator; Seward Mountain (4361 feet).
References
- Frederic Bancroft; The Life of William H. Seward 2 vol 1900
- David Herbert Donald. We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends (2003) pp 140-76.
- Doris Kearns Goodwin. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005) ISBN 0684824906
- Hendrick, Burton. Lincoln's War Cabinet (1946)
- Mark E. Neely Jr.; The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties Oxford University Press 1991
- John M Taylor. William Henry Seward (1991)
- Van Deusen, Glyndon. William Henry Seward Oxford University Press, 1967
Works
- Commerce in the Pacific ocean. Speech of William H. Seward, in the Senate of the United States, July 29, 1852 (1852; Digitized page images & text)
- The continental rights and relations of our country. Speech of William Henry Seward, in Senate of the United States, January 26, 1853 (1853; Digitized page images & text)
- The destiny of America. Speech of William H. Seward, at the dedication of Capital University, at Columbus, Ohio, September 14, 1853 (1853; Digitized page images & text)
- Certificate of Exchange (1867; Digitized page images & text)
- Alaska. Speech of William H. Seward at Sitka, August 12, 1869 (1869; Digitized page images & text)
External links
- Seward House, Auburn, NY
- Brief Seward biography
- Brief Seward biography
- Mr. Lincoln and Friends: William H. Seward
- Mr. Lincoln and New York: William H. Seward
- Mr. Lincoln's White House: William H. Seward
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