Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States

SEWARD

SEWARD, William H., was born at Florida, N. Y., May 16, 1801, and died at Auburn, N. Y., Oct. 10, 1872. He was graduated at Union in 1820, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and entered political life as an "anti-mason." (See ANTI-MASONRY.) He was a member of the state senate 1830-34, and, on the union of the various elements of opposition into the whig party, he became its candidate for governor. Defeated in 1834, he was elected in 1838 and 1840. In 1849, he became United States senator from New York, and at once became the most prominent of the anti-slavery whigs. He bad organized a faction of his own way of thinking in the state, in opposition to the Fillmore, or "silver gray," whigs, and seems to have believed that he would finally be as successful with the national party. The attempt was a failure; but Seward's speeches in the senate made him the acknowledged leader of the new republican party from its first organization. In one of them, he made the startling assertion that there was a higher law in politics than the constitution. But the vigor of his speeches had made him a dangerous candidate for a new party; and, although he confidently expected the nomination for the presidency in 1860, it was given to Lincoln. Nevertheless, he became Lincoln's secretary of state in 1861, and served until 1869. (See ALABAMA CLAIMS, RECONSTRUCTION.) See Baker's Life of W. H. Seward; Welles'Lincoln and Seward; C. F. Adams' Memorial Address on Seward; Jenkins' Governors of New York, 607; Savage's Living Representative Men, 404; W. H. Seward's Works.

ALEXANDER JOHNSTON.