William Henry Seward: Lincoln's Right Hand

Major funding for William Henry Seward Lincoln's right hand is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through the eastern Educational Network program funded and viewers like you. ADEKUNLE funding provided by a grant from the Fred L. Emerson foundation. William Henry Seward was a true believer. And there are very few people like that in politics today. There were actually very few people like that in politics back then. Seward was one of the very few American politicians who was willing to stake his entire political advancement on his philosophical beliefs. So we're bringing important people who visited him in Washington. There are tour

Washington at that time was really so bad it was a half barrel. Fever's. Could you bring these important people out here in the dead. He was in the public eye so much and sell along and when he could come here this this was a place where he could sit back and relax. Visit with friends here in Auburn. Be with his family. It was a sanctuary. The fact is anyone who looks closely at the evidence concludes that Seward was Lincolns right hand throughout most of those crucial years advised him on most of the important measures of the administration and should be well remembered as the person who supported Lincoln in all all of the important matters that came before the president and that in those terrible four years. In 1860 the citizens of Auburn New York were in an expectant and

celebrate Jory mood. The acknowledged front runner for the Republican presidential nomination was a prominent resident William Henry Seward. The 59 year old Seward was senior senator from New York and former governor of the state. As the Republicans began their convention in Chicago Seward remained at home enjoying the fine spring weather. And the constant string of visitors to his garden. Neighbors brought over a small cannon anticipating the celebration that would mark the first step towards electing Seward as the 16th president of the United States. William Henry Seward was one of the best known politicians in America apart from the fact that New York was a very important state it was. It was the most important state in terms of his presidential electoral votes. Seward. Was a fairly frequent speech maker in Congress. He was not a great speaker and had nothing at all in the Daniel Webster a chest thumping tradition. But he wrote very careful speeches which he himself

said were designed to be read not listened to. He was considered one of the great constitutional lawyers in the country. Obviously one of the leading leading reformers in the Senate. And. Along with some There are Jefferson Davis. John Jay Kryten and. Americans knew their senators and their politicians much better by name than we do today. And there were very few people north or south of the Mason-Dixon line who didn't know quite a bit about William Henry Seward. Despite his prestige. Seward incurred certain liabilities during his three decades in politics. He had emerged as a key spokesman for the anti-slavery movement and in 1850 spoke eloquently of a higher law than the Constitution. Eight years later he called the struggle against slavery an irrepressible conflict causing even his supporters to wonder whether Seward had made himself unnecessarily controversial.

The political climate was was as nasty as it has ever been in American history. The entire nation news that if a strong abolitionist won at their convention the South was probably going to walk out as early as July or August of 1860 and remember the secession doesn't happen until the following April and that are actually just a little before at Fort Sumpter so they knew that if a strong abolitionist candidate was strong abolitionist credentials like William Henry Seward or Salmon P. chase of Ohio won that there could be civil war right on the spot. So the Republicans instead turn away from those two leaders with established national credentials and turned towards a candidate with more local credentials one term congressman Abraham Lincoln. But Lincoln was a moderate in slavery. Lincoln had said that he was clearly point blank but he was not in 1860 for the abolition of slavery. Instead he was for the abolition or the prevention of slavery moving into the territories.

So Lincoln was actually a much much safer bet for the Republicans. If you were a delegate to the Republican convention in 1860 and we had the prospect of choosing between Lincoln and Seward you would have a very interesting set of choices to make. First of all the Seward was eight years old or hadn't had much of that much the greater reputation of the two had a much greater national reputation and had all had the most important state New York State solidly in his corner. This fellow Abraham Lincoln nobody knew very much about. In contrast to Seward many years in the Senate. Lincoln had served a single term in the House of Representatives. He would have been almost totally unknown had it not been for the well publicized debates he had had with Stephen Douglas in 1858 in a sense the Lincoln-Douglas debates made Lincoln because it raised him to the level of a possible contender even though most Republicans of those days

were prepared virtually to accord the nomination to Seward. Seward supporters believe they not only have the best candidate they also had the man thought to be the best political manager of his generation. The real low weed and editor and political boss from Albany knew all the devious tricks of politics and was totally devoted to Seward but weed was not the only astute political manager at the Chicago Convention. Leaders of the Lincoln delegation were convinced that if their candidate survived the first ballot. Lincoln would have a good shot at winning the nomination. Part of Seward's problem in 1860 was that he and Thurlow weed were both a bit overconfident. We had allowed the loud Chicago to be chosen as the convention site despite the fact that Illinois was very very close to Indiana and very much Lincoln territory. He had occasion to rue this very quickly because when the convention began the Lincoln people filled the

convention each morning. Sometimes they printed phone and phone and take it's to make sure that all the Lincoln people got in whenever Lincoln's name was mentioned at the convention there was a great roar when Seward's name was mentioned there was a loud cheer but nothing to compare with the tremendous noise the Lincoln delegates were able to generate. The conventions actually decided candidates that without primaries there were no primaries in 1860. Any party line. All the wheeling and dealing and trading was done in the convention and that favored a back room back slapper like Abraham Lincoln. And it worked against a man who was known for his lack of compromising of principle. Like Seward you'd knew that if you got into one of those smoke filled rooms and the question was Will William Henry Seward deal. The answer was probably not. While Seward calmly waited in his garden some of his friends gathered at the local

telegraph office to receive results from the Chicago Convention. The early news was good on the first ballot. Seward collected one hundred seventy three and a half votes to Lincoln's 102. Then came the second ballot giving a one hundred eighty four and a half notes to Seward and one hundred eighty one for Lincoln. A third ballot was called Toward when the roll call ended Seward's total had dropped to one eighty. Lincoln's had reached two hundred thirty one and a half just one and a half votes short of the necessary total. The word was handed a short message. Lincoln nominated third ballot. The town cannon was quietly returned to its accustomed place in a nearby park. Seward tried to get to bear this up with the Akron amity that he had had dealt with other setbacks in the past but it was a it was a devastating blow. He had thought that he had deserved the nomination and he could see as the convention began. No reason why this

fellow Lincoln whom he knew only slightly could possibly beat him out for it. It was a devastating blow and for two or three weeks he had very little to say or very little to write anyone. But there was he again it was hard he was like a little bit like the india rubber ball you couldn't keep him down. And after a tour with two or three weeks he indicated he was going to campaign for the link and take it and did so. William Henry's Seward's rise to dash into prominence had modest beginnings. He was born in the small village of Florida New York on May 16th 18 0 1. His health was fragile. The family decided that a college education was the best path. Like the young Abraham Lincoln he would spend much of his time reading and studying. And at the age of 15 his father enroll them in Union College. He graduated with high honors and at the age of 21 Seward was admitted to the bar.

He was about 5 feet 4 5 inches tall. And he had red hair and blue eyes. And. He was a very gregarious gentleman. Feisty. And. Sometimes a little bit too much of aware of his own importance which insists I think normal for a person's position. He had a background of learning. And of course he was an attorney. And he developed friendships with important people like there are no WE in Horace Greeley and they could see in him this possibility of his becoming really a national figure. William Henry Seward and his friends all knew him as Henry was a very friendly outgoing warm person devoted to his family.

But he was also a very ambitious person. He didn't want not want to simply be a real estate lawyer. As he started out his career he wanted to make an impact in politics and he wanted to make an impact in the area of reform. In December 18 22 the national economy was booming and 19th century Americans were restless. Mobile and eager for material prosperity. Seward was offered a partnership in the law firm of Judge Eliza Miller and he moved his few belongings to Auburn New York. A town he would call home for the rest of his life. Soon after joining judge Miller's Law Office Seward proposed to Francis a miller the judge's daughter. 19 year old Francis was a prize catch for the young attorney. She was interested in social and political issues but she differed from her husband in one important respect. Francis Seward was a very private person whose life centered on religion and the home. And his father in law's

insistence the young couple immediately moved into Judge Miller's residence considered by many as the finest house in Auburn. But Francis was physically frail over the years. She would suffer from a succession of ailments and her health would be a constant concern to her husband. It was a fine relationship. Real life. And even though Francis was not comfortable not too comfortable in Albany or Washington she still was very. Much aware of what was going. On. Francis was a Quaker. And. She had seen slavery for the first time when they were in Philadelphia in 1835 and reading some of her letters. And you could see that she really knew what was going on. She did prefer to stay here. Her friends and family were here. Also however while she was here.

She was hiding runaway slaves. One of the rooms would be the early. Basement kitchen. By the time the slaves were coming here. That was not the primary kitchen so it was sort of a little hiding place. There is no question that Francis Seward was even was such a strong supporter of Seward in his in his reformist campaigns that she was actually head of her husband in most of these issues. I think it's very interesting that at a time when the Fugitive Slave Act was supposed to be enforced in the north and the Underground Railroad was bringing slaves up from the south into the north the Seward household harbored escaped slaves. Now we have Henry Seward was in Washington while most of this went on. But he realized it was happening and realized that that his his wife's efforts in this area and cooperating with Harriet Tubman was it was in

danger of jeopardizing his entire career if word had gotten out that that the Seward home was harboring escaped slaves Seward's political career could have been jeopardized immediately. But he I think he recognized in Francis a need to do something like this. It was a need that he sympathized with and although he might have wished that she had found some other way of helping these people than putting them up in the Seward residence it continued with his full knowledge. But there is one letter. That Seward wrote. Now lots of people were doing as they were hiding the runaway slaves. They didn't put it down in a letter. But he did. He was home here in 1855 and his family had gone off this NG so he wrote to them. And he said while he was here two people came to be him. And then he added. Isn't this underground railroad working. Well. Frances continued to spend most of her time in Auburn even as her husband's career took him

to Albany and eventually to Washington D.C.. Seward's first public office came in 1830 when he was elected to the New York State Senate. He gained their friendship and support of their owner and editor of the Albany Evening Journal who engineered Seward's nomination for The New York Senate. While Seward pursued elected office we pursued political power and became known as one of the most powerful and controversial political bosses in the state. In 1838 William Henry Seward became the first awake governor of New York a prestigious position that helped him gain national attention. Seward selection as governor was one product of a reform movement that had been gaining momentum since the early 1830s slavery was its main focus. But it also included causes such as temperance and prison reform. During his two terms as governor Seward aggressively pursued highway improvements

railway expansion and the extension of the state canal system. Eventuate into deficit finance as he attempted to ensure that the Erie canal system was made its very best for commerce. But it was unfashionable to run deficits in those days and this was a criticism leveled against Seward as governor of New York. Nevertheless his development of the state's canals and railroads was widely recognized as a factor in the improvement of the state's economy. As governor Seward shows Cain mansion as his Albany residence a house that would reflect his new status. At the same time as Seward was also making improvements to his home in Auburn. I knew dining room was at it for an evening at Governor's Seward's residence was an event in addition to a fine meal. Guests would enjoy music and no evening would be complete without a game of whist Seward's favorite. 24 Gaz could be seated for dinner and the family China had more than 200

pieces. He just. Loved to have these wonderful big dinner parties who are interesting people and wonderful and they would have long long dinners I would sit at the table for four hours. I have perhaps 11 or 12 courses to a meal but it wasn't just the food and it was time versus a xtian. And wouldn't you love to be in on one of your I was going on. The table was brilliant with silver crystal goblets and imported China decorated in blue and gold. With the family motto dearie. Be as you are see and a typical dinner lesson from 6 to 10 o'clock had 11 courses soup fish and roast beef came in order. Then the plates were all changed and roast turkey and vegetables appeared next.

Asparagus was a real treat. Then sweet breads followed by a sequence of quails and green pea. Terrapins. The 10th course of ice cream wine jelly and pies and finally apples and nuts and prune and. And then of course the ladies would leave the gentleman to there or wine and cigars and withdraw into the withdrawing. After leaving the governorship assured himself as rather heavily in debt personally he had to devote quite a bit of his time to his law practice to bring his own finances up to speed during this period. Here was engage in one of the more famous trials. The pre-Civil War period and it involved a very sensitive racial issue a very gruesome murder took place in Auburn in which a prisoner who had been released after receiving some very brutal treatment in the New York prison prison system

murdered prominent white residents of Auburn and was brought to trial. And by all by all the evidence that we would go by today he would be regarded as him saying. And when the people in Auburn heard that sword was going to defend Freeman. They stone this house doesn't even say for family members to walk down the street. Very unpopular decision for Seward to make but he felt it was right. And as I said he did not win the case but he did win another trial. And before that could come about William Freeman died. Doctors Cain did autopsies after his death. And found that indeed his brain was badly deceased. But interesting you said that played upstate New York 1846. It was a very difficult case but Seward was able to achieve a home hung jury meaning that

they would not come in with a verdict of either innocent innocent or guilty. A remarkable legal achievement since the insanity defense was rarely successful in those days. And Seward was pursuing this defense on one with a defendant whom the society as a whole considered not. Yes it was a very daring thing for Stewart to have done in a time when he was just getting ready for the most important political bit of his career. The U.S. Senate. In the years after the William Freeman trial stewards Auburn law practice continued to prosper but he was becoming restless. It was drawn irresistibly to politics but his views on subjects such as territorial expansion and black suffrage were well ahead of popular opinion in the fall of 1848. Seward traveled across the state and New England on behalf of presidential candidate General Zachary Taylor and the weight ticket. On a stop in Boston. He addressed a large audience about the slavery issue. He was followed by another speaker Congressman

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois who delivered what Seward later called a rambling storytelling speech putting the audience in good humor but avoiding any extended discussion of the slavery question. But he had met Lincoln in 1848 this was their first meeting and it was an abolitionist meeting in Boston. And they stayed in the same inn in the same room stayed up all night talking. And of course Seward putting forth his ideas on. Anti-slavery and so on. And after this Lincoln said to Seward he said No perhaps you are right. In the in your feelings on anti slavery but Lincoln also said after this that he probably he Lincoln remembered this much more so than Soward because at that time Seward was the well-known sun.

In February of the following year William Henry Seward was elected to the United States Senate. He made eloquent speeches in favor of admitting California to the union as a free state and soon became established as a leader in the anti-slavery group in the Senate. Seward had plans for the Wake party hoping it would take him to the presidency. He insisted the party take a stand against slavery. And in September 1850 the Whig convention held in Syracuse became a battle ground for contending the way factions by July 18 54 the Republican Party opposed to any extension of slavery had been formed. And Seward quietly allied himself with the new party. Lincoln really felt that Seward would bring international legitimacy to his administration.

Lincoln had many gifts experience and diplomacy in 1860 was not one of them. Like many American presidents Lincoln skills were in domestic politics and not in foreign policy. And what Lincoln had to do was to bring in an expert someone who would be judged immediately with credibility by both the British and the French. And William Henry Seward was that man given his background in national politics. Lincoln would need all the credibility Seward would add to his administration for many question the abilities of the new president with the splitting of the nation after Lincoln's election. William Henry Seward discovered he was a unionist worst angry former second. He played for time hoping if Lincoln could be inaugurated without bloodshed the worst of the secessionist crisis might be over. At the very beginning of Lincoln's administration Seward was almost obsessed with the idea of allowing the far South to secede without interference.

The saying in those days that he shared with General Winfield Scott was wayward sisters depart in peace. But this was not it. Not a free ride at the same time as he was repaired to see the far South seceded on the assumption that they would eventually see the error of their ways. Seward was very eager to woo the border states such as Virginia North Carolina and Tennessee. With this in mind he still found himself somewhat at odds with President Lincoln even after he became secretary of state and did not feel that Lincoln was applying himself as much to this particular issue issue as he should have done. Seward really felt wanted and baby Ed wasn't nominated or elected. But I can still run the country and wrote up this list of thoughts for the president's consideration he thought Lincoln was a moving Ferris. But if they eventually were to die. On April 1st 1861 after the Lincoln administration had just

been in office for a month. Seward wrote a memorandum to Lincoln complaining that Lincoln was not dealing with the issues that required his immediate attention was devoting too much time to minor appointments and suggested that if he wished to share some of his responsibility that Seward would be happy to do it. This has been a very controversial memorandum and a lot of negative comments about Seward have sprung from this particular memo. But to a considerable extent this is a bum rap. Lincoln was extremely inactive at a crucial time. He should have been doing some of the things that Seward urged him to do. Although some people have considered Seward. Very very unseemly and making this suggestion that that he Seward should be doing more and perhaps Lincoln last Lincoln had very little reputation at this time. And the signs of greatness that were that we now know of Lincoln had not begun to emerge at all. I do not feel that Seward was unreasonable in making the suggestion that that he should lean on Seward perhaps a bit

more. Some of the suggestions in the memo were quite unwise but the ultimate effect of the memo was a positive one. It definitely got Lincoln's attention on the very day that the Seward wrote a memo to Lincoln. They had a conference that evening and ironed out a relationship that ultimately proved a unique and extraordinarily harmonious official relationship between the two men and ultimately made them fast friends as well. The best way to describe the relationship between Lincoln and Seward was that it was a relationship that grew into one of the grudging respect. Lincoln always understood Seward's political value. Seward always understood Lincoln's political gifts. There is an exact comparison and that's the relationship between Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. Nixon had always planned on being his own secretary of state. Those are the exact same strengths and the exact relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Seward Lincoln had his grand spatial view for the union and that union's

place in the world and the role that England and France and to a lesser extent Latin America would play. It was up to Seward to put those plans into motion. Seward was recognized as one of the premier intellects in politics. He had an alert mind skilled in both assessing people and in analyzing political developments. He had a deep knowledge of history and he was remarkably well traveled. Seward was the one member of Lincoln's cabinet with a geopolitical perspective. But the outbreak of war was a political blow to Seward. He had staked his reputation on the certainty that the initial wave of secession could be managed and both peace and the union. Would be preserved. As Secretary of State Seward did a number of things right off the bat that were very effective. First of all he indicated on happiness with England because England had recognized the Confederacy as a belligerent to recognize the

Confederacy as a belligerent was not the same as giving them official recognition. But it was a heading in that direction and to Seward he hinted very strongly to the British minister in Washington that if the British should formally recognize the Confederacy they had better start worrying about Canada. So once once it was clear that war was in the offing suer was no longer the deal that he had been in the period between Lincoln's election and his inauguration. He was quite bellicose. But he was not bellicose when and when it was not necessary to do so. The civil war affects American diplomacy in a rather odd sort of way. William Henry Seward. As secretary of state is not only responsible for diplomacy he's responsible for keeping the international community at arm's length from the civil war. Clearly the secretary of state is the first among equals on the cabinet.

And something needs to be said here about the president's cabinet. It is not a constitutional body. It is a body that serves at the pleasure of the president of the United States president the United States doesn't even have to have a cabinet today in the year 2000. The cabinet is essentially a useless body. It it it does not serve any real policymaking purpose since Richard Nixon that power has been taken away and given to White House staff members back in Lincoln's day. It was not only a policy making body but an advice giving body. And Lincoln not only listened to the advice of the cabinet. But he acted on it. He acted on it on many many occasions. So when William Henry Seward spoke. As the first person to speak the secretary of state at a cabinet meeting the first person that Lincolnwood would ask for advice he had a tremendous amount of authority.

I believe that authority gave Seward the impression early on in the administration that he was a co president. Seward sought to set an example of calmness from his State Department Office Building on the corner of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. But he also had to accommodate himself to the new realities of war. Treason is a powerful fact he wrote to Francis and at last we have the stern necessity of meeting and treating it as such. During the first year the Civil War the State Department had important internal security responsibilities. Newspaper editors particularly who printed seditious material or pro pro Confederate articles were in danger of being arrested summarily and put in jail. Lincoln had suspended the right of habeas corpus as he probably had to do in the crisis that he was facing. It's a little bit unusual that enforcement of these somewhat arbitrary arrests fail to Seward State Department

and eventually they were transferred to the War Department. Seward is credited or or if credited is the word with having told a guest at a dinner one night that he had a little bell on his desk and if he rang it. The man would calm Anna and the person he would designate would be taken to jail. He asked he asked his British visitor could he could. Could Queen Victoria do as much or could the British prime minister do as much. So sewers little bell became noted as as as as as a scent as a symbol of arbitrary arrest and unwise use of power. It wasn't used very much and it may not have been arbitrary but that but the bell was hung around swords neck. Both Lincoln and Seward were eager to to do to make it clear that that that that the country was at war and that certain measures would have to be possible and Lincoln in a curious way managed to keep himself in the background. It was Seward's whose heavy hand was seen making these arrests and one very sad effect of this was that people like John Wilkes Booth began thinking of Seward as

the evil genius of the link in the administration. The outbreak of the war found the Seward family geographically divided. France is no longer made any pretense of maintaining a home in Washington and Seward's daughter Fanny remained with her mother in Auburn. Seward moved into a three storey red brick townhouse on Lafayette Park across Pennsylvania Avenue from both the White House and the State Department. The household also included his son Fred and daughter in law and who became the hostess with the Seward's Washington residence. Ana loved to

entertain and a steady stream of guests came to their elegant parlor which included this set of gilded gold leaf furniture. Many enjoyed the Seward's hospitality and the president was a frequent visitor. It was very handy for Lincoln to come over to Seward's house and thereby escape all the people who crowded the ante rooms of the White House looking for an audience with the president. Or perhaps for the appointment of an office. So Lincoln was probably as frequent visitor to Seward study and the in what was called the old clubhouse which was suing the Stewart's home in Washington as vice versa. Seward did have one interesting problem Mary Lincoln could not stand Seward. We don't know exactly why this was although part of it was political. She was known to refer to Seward as that dirty abolition sneak. Well her husband had a justice for him an abolition Mrs. Seward was I think she resented particularly before her husband's election. She resented Seward fame and saw Seward as a rival and even after Seward was a

was a junior member of the Lincoln administration. She saw him as a potential rival to her husband long after the strike had passed. As the war dragged on into men's views on the abolition of slavery began to diverge. Seward once the strong advocate of abolition began to fear that emancipation could lead to a complete breakdown of order in the south. President Lincoln on the other hand became convinced that limited emancipation would be legal and moral and would assist the Northern war effort. Seward cautioned that the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation following a string of defeats on the battlefield would hint of desperation an argument the president found compelling. The fact that President Lincoln rarely made an important decision without consulting his secretary of state caused some

friction within the cabinet. Seward friends were fond of referring to him as the premier of the Lincoln administration and his rivals sometimes did so in a sarcastic tone. The famous painting of the Emancipation Proclamation by Francis B carpenter clearly illustrates Seward status. The first version of the painting places equal emphasis on the president and Secretary Seward. The artist later altered the painting in the final version makes Lincoln the central figure. Seward often dominated cabinet meetings and was active in many areas far beyond the normal duties of the State Department. Even as it had military units around Washington whenever occasion permitted. And the North setbacks in the field weighed heavily on the secretary of state. The scope of Seward's interest did not sit well with his political enemies and waves around Washington asked whether he was head of the army or merely general manager of the administration members.

For one thing they thought that Seward and Lincoln were a little too close. Bob. And Seward would very often when there were disagreements in the cabinet where he was the reason for some of the disagreements he would just say I resign. President Lincoln would say Governor Seward sit down. And then they'd talk it over later. Again it was that feisty ways. Yes. One thing which Lincoln and Seward shared and other members of his cabinet did not was able had marvelous senses of humor and they as time went on their their personal friendship was such that Lincoln could needle Seward which which he had dearly enjoyed doing. And there are a number of well documented instances of this. My personal favorite and Seward pretty much had run of the White House including the living quarters had Seward one day went up to into the living quarters and there was the president of the United States putting putting bootblack on his boots.

And Seward affected a mock surprise and said Mr. President Washington we don't polish our own boots. Whereupon Lincoln said well whose boots do you polish that Mr. Secretary. The pictures we see of Seward and his contemporaries tend to be a bit on the grim side partly because they had to hold still for a long time any time they went to have their picture taken. People who knew Seward considered him a bon vivant a delightful conversationalist and the kind of person you wanted to be sure to who came to your dinner because he would brighten things up. Seward's skills as a host serve the union particularly well in 1863. Despite a string of military successes. Not all foreign observers were convinced of the inevitability of a northern victory. One reason for their scepticism in Seward's view was that they had no concept of the vast resources of the north. To change their perspective. Invited all heads of mission to be his guests on a grand tour of New York. The visitors could hardly overlook the fact that

throughout this state the economy was booming with factories and mills operating at full capacity. Seward was able to assist in keeping your peon powers from adding to Lincoln's problems. But ultimately the American Civil War would be decided on the battlefield. After the Battle of Gettysburg Seward feeling grateful for the turn in federal military fortunes went to the president. With a recommendation to observe a day of national thanksgiving. Lincoln agreed. And the observance of Thanksgiving as we know it today. Was formalized. Through the remaining years of the war Seward worked diligently at keeping Britain out of the conflict and preventing British construction of additional Confederate cruisers like the Alabama. The sinking of the Alabama off the coast of France in 1864 was a great victory and Seward would press the British for compensation for the damage dish it caused.

Union interests. The Alabama claims it would take years to negotiate. In part because of his annoyance with England's permitting the Confederacy to build cruisers there Seward had no compunction at all in assisting the War Department in sending army recruiters to Ireland to recruit Irish to come and join the northern northern armies who are generally down in Virginia never realized that all those blue coats coming at him had been recruited in Ireland and there was a seemingly endless supply of recruits for the North. Thanks in part to the efforts of William Henry Seward the secretary of state. A few days after President Lincoln's re-election in 1864 Seward spoke to a crowd gathered outside his Washington home. The election he said has placed our president beyond the pale of human envy or human harm as he is above the pale of ambition. Henceforth all men will come to see him as you and I have seen him a true loyal patient patriotic and benevolent man.

Abraham Lincoln will take his place with Washington and Franklin. And Jefferson and Adams and Jackson among the benefactors of the country and of the human race. Five months later on April 14th 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated. It was in in early April that Seward took his carriage ride that resulted in the serious accident that put him in a position for the assassination attempt. Lincoln was and was in Virginia monitoring the final advance of the Union armies on and on Richmond when he heard about Seward's accident. He returned to Washington and reported to Seward on what he had seen in the in the final advance of the victorious Union. Frederick Seward has given us a marvelous picture of Lincoln stretching out his six

foot four frame whatever it was on the same bed that Seward was lying in his cast and telling Seward of what he had seen. And his hopes for the future. While Lincoln was talking Seward who was being who was under sedation at the time appears to have dozed off. And Frederick Seward described how President Lincoln got very quietly off from the bed and tiptoed out of the room from the from the last meeting the two men ever had. At the time Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theater by John Wilkes Booth Seward was in his Washington home on Lafayette Square. In bed recovering from a serious error Kerridge accident. He had had nine days before. He had been thrown for a miscarriage landing on his face. He broke his jaw bones on both sides his collarbone his arm and his shoulder. And there was a time when they thought perhaps he wouldn't recover from the carriage accident.

Francis was called from Auburn to Washington to be with him. The night. Lincoln was shot in the theater by booth. This young man Louis Thornton Paul was a follower of Boone came to the Seward's home and. Told the servant who came to the door that he had. A message for Seward from his doctor and this certainly sounded all right. And although many Americans have overlooked this I had almost the identical hour that Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theater a strapping former Confederate soldier who went by the name of either power or pain at different times entered Seward's house and almost killed the secretary of state. We can only imagine the horror of that Seward realize that here he was lying and lying in bed in pain with his shoulder. And this man coming at him with a knife but he managed to roll off the bed. Something which must have been excruciating really painful. And meanwhile there

was a male nurse looking after sewer in the bedroom who jumped on pain. I was wounded by pain but by then the assassin headed out the door wounded two other people slightly on his way out. It was the bloodiest single night of any political assassination in the United States. When you got the win you win you had the assassination attempt planned to fully topple the government then note that the conspirators did not just limit themselves to assassinating the president but that they went after the vice president and the secretary of state. They almost got Seward of course. But in terms of the power mentality they felt that those individuals had to go for the entire power of the government to stop. They felt that those people had to be killed for the government to fall. The assassination did more than wound Seward. He. Had it was left with a severe about a six inch scar which he Seward covered the scar with a with a

with a high collar. His wife's health which had been bad throughout the war she had suffered she suffered such a nervous reaction to Seward's wounding and to the near killing of Frederick Seward and the Francis his nervous system was such that he couldn't take it. She died six weeks after the assassination and about a year after that friend Fanny Seward who had been suffering from tuberculosis for many years she died after attempting to nurse her father for some time. Soo it was what ensued was a tired man at the end of the line for the ministration and I think that. The fact that he's not taking a greater interest in the cause of the liberated slaves and the fact that he made a comment that he rather wished that he had died when Lincoln and all grew out of the fact that he had severed his previous family owns as well as having been within himself. William Henry Seward continued as secretary of state for Andrew Johnson Seward believe that what the wounded nation required was not reconstruction

but reconciliation during a visit to Auburn in October 1865. He addressed a local gathering from the steps of his South Street home whether in friendship or in enmity in peace or in a war he said. We are and can be nothing else than brother and. But the years of war and the loss of his wife and daughter had taken a toll by 1867. He faced the constant challenge of easing growing tensions between President Johnson and Congress. Andrew Johnson's enemies attempted to force him from office by the. Accusing him of having violated a law which was that it later found to be unconstitutional. The tenure of office act would have given Congress responsibility for hiring and firing of members of the president's entourage including the cabinet. Seward recognized this ploy from the outset for what it was. It was merely a device

by which Johnson's enemies in Congress were were attacking the new president. He regarded the tenure of office law as unconstitutional did not did not expect it to to force Johnson out of office as the impeachment vote came closer Seward Seward was was was nervous as was anybody in Johnson's administration. He was greatly relieved when the impeachment vote narrowly failed. You don't read an awful lot during the time of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and you don't read an awful lot during the latter years of the Johnson year of the Johnson administration about William Henry Seward playing a role in domestic policy although he clearly did instead very quietly what Seward does under Johnson is he uses this power vacuum to put into play. The first steps of imperial expansion of the United States that we will see so much a part of in the in the Gilded Age and The most

obvious one of those steps is the purchase of Alaska. Neither war nor reconstruction had dulled Seward's keen interest in territorial expansion so long as it could be accomplished by peaceful means. He failed in his attempt to purchase the Danish own Virgin Islands but even his talks with Denmark continued. Seward was after bigger game Russian America now known as Alaska. As early as 1846 he predicted that America must expand to the icy barriers of the north. Probably because Seward feared that Britain might enter the bidding negotiations with the Russian minister Edwards proceeded in secret into the early hours of the morning of March 30th 1867. The seven point two million dollar purchase treaty was signed at 4 o'clock in the morning. Who would rush to the capital on the day of the signing urging mediate approval. But the treaty was referred to committee and the press had a field day ridiculing the

acquisition. This is what people know about so sure this happened right at the end of this very long public career. But he was greatly ridiculed it was swords and so were some Johns and polar bear garden and the world at that frozen land far be worth anything. His idea in buying the territory national defense. Again this idea of the United States becoming a world power. It was important that surrounding areas were also acquired. Well at one time we thought Canada would be pretty nice. Somehow it didn't work. One of the one of the reasons why I link why we continue to regard Seward as one of our great secretaries of state was that he had what I would call a global vision at a time when this was a very scarce commodity. The expression Manifest Destiny was popular in Seward's. The idea was that the United

States was destined to span from coast to coast and to be a country from literally from Maine to California. Seward was always the type of individual and loved to who loved to fight the lost causes. And there was nothing more of a lost cause. 1865 or 1866 and then trying to convince people to buy this icebox. At a tremendous amount of money I might add we talk about how much money. Alaska cost. As if it was a pittance. This is the post civil war economy we're talking about here. They've gone through a recession a shop recession after the Civil War in the north they were going to come out of it very quickly. But he had to come up with the money for this and they didn't do it on deficit spending in those days there were some taxes raised to purchase Alaska and Seward managed to pull this thing off. And it was a political feather in his cap. By the end of 1868 Seward dreaded the thought of retirement

and may have clung to a hope that President elect Grant would ask him to stay on as secretary of state. But Grant had no intention of retaining one of Andrew Johnson's closest associates during his final months in Washington. There was a great deal of gossip about Seward. At the age of 68 Seward's friendship with 28 year old olive Risley was causing tongues to weigh all of was the daughter of an old friend of Seward who most certainly missed the companionship of his wife and daughter. Now white haired and band Seward's moved back to Auburn was a major undertaking. Almost immediately he began planning a trip around the world accompanied among others by olive or sister Harriet and their father. In Shanghai. It was agreed that adoption was the best way to put an end to gossip about the relationship. Seward came back to Auburn but his philosophy as he wants to express it was

was rest is rust and he undertook what became the first trip around the world by any prominent American politician. We now take travel trans-Atlantic trans-Pacific around the world so much for granted the idea of a man almost 70 years old going around the world even even with an entourage was almost unheard of then. And Seward not only did it he met the emperor of Japan he met his erstwhile rivals in in France and England ended up his. His daughter ended up writing a book about William Henry Stuart's trip around the world which is quite interesting for them for the many prints and engravings parts of the world that no American there visited at that time. When he came back from his trip he was bedridden for a time but but recovered and began puttering around the house and would take his take his trips on the lake. The promises grew worse and I think Seward probably felt that his his death

was imminent when it came it came came very quietly and seemingly painlessly in his study in his house in Auburn. His last words to his family worked to love one another and that was a very characteristic remark from someone like Seward. William Henry Seward died at the age of 71 on the afternoon of October 10 1872. A few days later on a rainy autumn day a parade of carriages slowly won the streets from the Seward home to Fort Hill Cemetery Seward was laid to rest next to his wife Francis and his daughter Fanny. Under a stone with the words he was faithful. Seward's home for nearly half a century retains many items that were part of his daily life and a rich sense of history. The secretary chair he used in Albany and his State Department office the library filled with books gifts and memorabilia

and over 130 photographs and prints of the world's rulers acquired during the Seward's time with the State Department and his travels. Seward was one of the more complex figures in American political history at various times a shrewd diligent devious tenacious and indiscreet. He could be brusque in his judgment was sometimes flawed. What Seward had to compensate for these deficiencies was simply the quality called Vision. He thought in broad terms freedom national unity. Expansion. When denied the presidency. He chose to assist his country as best he could. He was one of the political giants of his generation working closely with his president during a time of crisis. William Henry Seward Lincoln's right hand. Major funding for William Henry Seward Lincoln's right hand is made

possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through the eastern Educational Network program funded and viewers like you and funding provided by a grant from the Fred L. Emerson foundation.