William H. Seward- Thoughts?

hanna260

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So I read Team of Rivals and actually came away with a lot of respect for Seward. He is shown intially despising Lincoln and then growing to be his staunch supporter. He is a firm enemy of slavery, though not quite as radical as Chase or the abolitionists. He is shown to be a gifted politician with a warm regard for people. He is not as politically talented as Lincoln, but he serves him well in his cabinet. He was beloved in his home state and someone who purchased Alaska as Secretary of State.

However, I have seen alternate viewpoints on Seward as a statesman and person- both on this forum and out of it. So, I'm curious- thoughts on William H. Seward?
 
So I read Team of Rivals and actually came away with a lot of respect for Seward. He is shown intially despising Lincoln and then growing to be his staunch supporter. He is a firm enemy of slavery, though not quite as radical as Chase or the abolitionists. He is shown to be a gifted politician with a warm regard for people. He is not as politically talented as Lincoln, but he serves him well in his cabinet. He was beloved in his home state and someone who purchased Alaska as Secretary of State.

However, I have seen alternate viewpoints on Seward as a statesman and person- both on this forum and out of it. So, I'm curious- thoughts on William H. Seward?
Has Secretary of State he helped keep the US out of a foreign war despite a somewhat dicey situation with the Trent Affair. The US apparently had some sucess in preventing the UK from selling some warships to the CSA or rather putting pressure on the UK govt to curtail the sale by a private firm. Mark Jenkins is the go to guy for details on that . In 1867 he bought Alaska from Russia for what seemed to be to much money at the time but that did work out for the US. Not an altogether bad record
 
So I read Team of Rivals and actually came away with a lot of respect for Seward. He is shown intially despising Lincoln and then growing to be his staunch supporter. He is a firm enemy of slavery, though not quite as radical as Chase or the abolitionists. He is shown to be a gifted politician with a warm regard for people. He is not as politically talented as Lincoln, but he serves him well in his cabinet. He was beloved in his home state and someone who purchased Alaska as Secretary of State.

However, I have seen alternate viewpoints on Seward as a statesman and person- both on this forum and out of it. So, I'm curious- thoughts on William H. Seward?

I read Team of Rivals too. It was a great book. As for Seward, I was very impressed by him as he was a statesman who swallowed his pride and served the country. He became Lincoln's most trusted adviser during the trying time of the war and the later passage of the 13th Amendment. I think Lincoln looked upon him as he voice of civility in a cabinet that was filled with backstabbers, most notably Chase. Welles was weak, the Blairs were two-faced and most of the others were me-firsters. Seward held on during the worst of times and came to admire Lincoln for his common sense and political skill. Thankfully, he survived the assassination attempt and went on to serve the country during the trials that followed during Johnson's tragic presidency and the beginning of Reconstruction. All in all, a very admirable man.
 
Nice thread Hanna! I can never tell if Seward and ' his ' Rochester made New York reflective of his stance on slavery or his election as governor was inevitable because of it. Also can't tell if Team of Rivals got it right all the way that Seward despised Lincoln as much as depicted. Not that he wouldn't have to a large degree- politics alone required ( and still does ) you make hash out of the opponent for the sake of your constituents. Lincoln would have taken some getting used to for the Rochester crowd- Seward was their man bar none.

My knee jerk reaction to Team of Rivals and Seward was as good as it is, still missing ' something ' on the man. Some depth of character or lacking his primary personality but have yet to see anyone really hit that. That isn't a negative review on the book, he's kind of an enigma. I'm a little prejudice, family history has politics running through New York and DC during his time, kind of a fan.
 
Seward was a good man who was very sincerely committed to the anti-slavery cause. He did tend to look down his nose at first at the country bumpkin who beat him to the Presidency, but he was quickly able to get over that, and I find that an admirable quality. He also botched things up pretty badly at Fort Sumter during that interval. And his idea of saving the Union by precipitating a war with Britain was just plain whacko. But he got over that too.

In the end he was really one of the very few people who Lincoln could rely on - as an advisor, a colleague, and a friend. And with so many warring and unstable parties around him constantly, Lincoln really needed someone like that.
 
Seward: Lincoln's Indespensable Man is a good indepth book on Seward's life. He was Lincoln's right hand man after the initial bumpy start up. Became Lincoln's best friend in and out of the government. He talked big to the British in public but was much more pragmatic behind the scenes. While the cabinet was for going to war with England during the Trent Affair he argued strongly against war and won them over in the end leading to a peaceful resolution with England.

As Sec of State in post war he was a deep thinker and pretty much set up the coming American Century. He put it all into motion....Alaska purchase, tried to get British Columbia and nearly succeded, the expansion into the Pacific was set in motion with plans for Hawaii that bore out in the 1890's. He made the start up plans for the Panama Canal that eventually came to fruition in TR's Administration. The settling of the Alabama Claims against England paved the way for our future alliance with the Brits. He was one of the best Sec of State's we've had in our history.
 
Seward: Lincoln's Indespensable Man is a good indepth book on Seward's life. He was Lincoln's right hand man after the initial bumpy start up. Became Lincoln's best friend in and out of the government. He talked big to the British in public but was much more pragmatic behind the scenes. While the cabinet was for going to war with England during the Trent Affair he argued strongly against war and won them over in the end leading to a peaceful resolution with England.

As Sec of State in post war he was a deep thinker and pretty much set up the coming American Century. He put it all into motion....Alaska purchase, tried to get British Columbia and nearly succeded, the expansion into the Pacific was set in motion with plans for Hawaii that bore out in the 1890's. He made the start up plans for the Panama Canal that eventually came to fruition in TR's Administration. The settling of the Alabama Claims against England paved the way for our future alliance with the Brits. He was one of the best Sec of State's we've had in our history.

Good call on the book. I read it after Team of Rivals as I was intrigued by Seward. Overall, an admirable figure. You might want to read a book entitled "All the Great Prizes" about John Hay, Lincoln's secretary who was present when three presidents, who were assassinated, died. He went on to an incredible career in government including being S of S. He was another big figure in the CW years and a confidant of Lincoln, along with Seward.
 
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Good man, who had a strong sense of convictions which he used to stand up for the rights of accused slaves..It was this conviction which allowed him to stand up to several slave states as governor even though it almost caused a economic war to break out between New York, Virginia and several other slave states.. But, in regards to Sumter he truly bungled it, and I believe he was one of the main reasons that the seceeded states lost the little trust they had in Washington or Lincoln before Sumter...He overstepped his role during a critical time and tried to use General Scott to push his agenda thru.. But, after the Sumter crisis came to head I beleved he redeemed himself in his role during the rest of the war and after.
 
Good call on the book. I read it after Team of Rivals as I was intrigued by Seward. Overall, an admirable figure. You might want to read a book entitled "All the Great Prizes" about John Hay, Lincoln's secretary who was present when three presidents, who were assassinated, died. He went on to an incredible career in government including being S of S. He was another big figure in the CW years and a confidant of Lincoln, along with Seward.
Thanks...I will definitely add that to my reading list!
 
Seward's certainly one of the more difficult characters to get to know. I must confess that he's not been a primary target of mine, so what I know of him is as he appears in the afore-mentioned Team of Rivals, as well as books on the Trent affair and foreign diplomacy. At times, he appears to have been play-acting the ham-fisted non-diplomat, but at others, he actually seems to have been a ham-fisted non-diplomat. Very puzzling.
 
In his very first speech in the Senate he took on the pro-slavery contingent and responded to Calhouns own speech with his "Higher law" speech.. Now that takes balls for a brand new Senator..


http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/SewardNewTerritories.pdf

It is now avowed by the honorable senator
from South Carolina [Mr. CALHOUN] that
nothing will satisfy the slave states but a compromise
that will convince them that they can
remain in the Union consistently with their
honor and their safety. And what are the concessions
which will have that effect? Here they
are, in the words of that senator:
The North must do justice by conceding to the South an
equal right in the acquired territory, and do her duty by
causing the stipulation relative to fugitive slaves, to be
faithfully fulfilled, cease the agitation of the slave question,
and provide for the insertion of a provision in the Constitution,
by an amendment, which will restore to the South in
substance, the power she possessed, of protecting he~,
before the equilibrium between the sections was destroyed
by the action of this Government.
These terms amount to this: that the free
states having already, or although they may
hereafter have, majorities of states, majorities of
population, and majorities in both houses of
Congress, shall concede to the slave states,
being in a minority in both, the unequal advantage
of an equality-that is, that we shall alter
the Constitution so as to convert the government
from a national democracy, operating by a
constitutional majority of voices, into a federal
alliance, in which the minority shall have a veto
against the majority. And this is to return to
the original Articles of Confederation.
 
More than qualified to be President, in comparison with some before and after him. Staunch Unionist, long time opponent of slavery, experienced politician etc. But, early in the war, he had some dangerous idea's about the war and the South, that could have lost the war before it even began.
.
 
So, an admirable man it sounds like, who Lincoln could rely on, and who had his fair share both of successes and failures in his cabinet position and as a diplomat. For some reason, I feel like I had heard a lot of negative things about him somewhere but he sounds like someone from both the book and you all, who truly served his country as a politician.

Seward: Lincoln's Indespensable Man is a good indepth book on Seward's life. He was Lincoln's right hand man after the initial bumpy start up. Became Lincoln's best friend in and out of the government. He talked big to the British in public but was much more pragmatic behind the scenes. While the cabinet was for going to war with England during the Trent Affair he argued strongly against war and won them over in the end leading to a peaceful resolution with England.

Good call on the book. I read it after Team of Rivals as I was intrigued by Seward. Overall, an admirable figure. You might want to read a book entitled "All the Great Prizes" about John Hay, Lincoln's secretary who was present when three presidents, who were assassinated, died. He went on to an incredible career in government including being S of S. He was another big figure in the CW years and a confidant of Lincoln, along with Seward.

Thanks for the book recs! :smile:
 
In the 1840 election campaign, future police minister Seward busied himself as professional liar for the Whig Party.
As a New York State Senator, he elaborately defended the Bank of the United States (January 31, 1832).
Seward was counsel for Erastus Corning, a large capitalist of Albany who was the head of the projectors of the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company which, in 1854, by fraud and corruption obtained from Congress an extensive land grant of 900,000 acres.
He was governor of New York when the free banking system was unleashed there; in 1863 it was the New York free banking system that was applied to the whole Union, as the national currency bank system, the forerunner of the federal reserve system.

quote]
Stanton did not originate the idea of the arbitrary arrests --a designation used eventually by advocates and opponents alike. These seizures were already in vogue when he entered upon his duties in Lincoln's Cabinet. On April 27, 1861, prior to the assembling of Congress in July, the President had authorized General Scott to suspend the privilege of habeas corpus at any point on the line of troop movements between Philadelphia and Washington. By July 2, the line was extended to New York, and on October 11 to Bangor, Maine. Without other authority, Secretary of State Seward, who had somehow attached this prerogative to his department, began to issue orders for the arrest and imprisonment of persons suspected of disloyal acts or designs in all parts of the country. Seward was quoted as having once boasted to Lord Lyon, the British ambassador: "My Lord, I can touch a bell on my right hand, and order the arrest of a citizen of Ohio; I can touch a bell again, and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York; and no power on earth, except that of the President, can release them. Can the Queen of England do so much ?"

On October 28, 1861, Secretary of State Seward authorized General McClellan to suspend the habeas corpus act in Maryland "and make arrests of traitors and their confederates in his discretion." McClellan in turn delegated the power to suspend the constitutional guarantees of American citizens to other subordinate officers. Thus the seeds for a reign of terror were carelessly sown. They were soon to bear fruit of a most unwholesome nature.
/quote]
 
In the 1840 election campaign, future police minister Seward busied himself as professional liar for the Whig Party.
As a New York State Senator, he elaborately defended the Bank of the United States (January 31, 1832).
Seward was counsel for Erastus Corning, a large capitalist of Albany who was the head of the projectors of the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company which, in 1854, by fraud and corruption obtained from Congress an extensive land grant of 900,000 acres.
He was governor of New York when the free banking system was unleashed there; in 1863 it was the New York free banking system that was applied to the whole Union, as the national currency bank system, the forerunner of the federal reserve system.

quote]
Stanton did not originate the idea of the arbitrary arrests --a designation used eventually by advocates and opponents alike. These seizures were already in vogue when he entered upon his duties in Lincoln's Cabinet. On April 27, 1861, prior to the assembling of Congress in July, the President had authorized General Scott to suspend the privilege of habeas corpus at any point on the line of troop movements between Philadelphia and Washington. By July 2, the line was extended to New York, and on October 11 to Bangor, Maine. Without other authority, Secretary of State Seward, who had somehow attached this prerogative to his department, began to issue orders for the arrest and imprisonment of persons suspected of disloyal acts or designs in all parts of the country. Seward was quoted as having once boasted to Lord Lyon, the British ambassador: "My Lord, I can touch a bell on my right hand, and order the arrest of a citizen of Ohio; I can touch a bell again, and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York; and no power on earth, except that of the President, can release them. Can the Queen of England do so much ?"

On October 28, 1861, Secretary of State Seward authorized General McClellan to suspend the habeas corpus act in Maryland "and make arrests of traitors and their confederates in his discretion." McClellan in turn delegated the power to suspend the constitutional guarantees of American citizens to other subordinate officers. Thus the seeds for a reign of terror were carelessly sown. They were soon to bear fruit of a most unwholesome nature.
/quote]

May I ask where the sources for these quotes came from?
 
as to habeas corpus, if you don't want to read documents or history books, you may:---
wikipedia Habeas_corpus_in_the_United_States

the activity of Seward in 1840 is acknowledged and reported, his speech in 1832 is in the NY record, so is the act authorizing free banks

John A. Marshall, American Bastile

quote]
The New York Times
Thursday, January 19, 1865.

The Military Committee of the House made, this morning [January 18], a personal inspection of the Old Capitol Prison, for the purpose of carrying into effect the House resolution calling for information whether officers and others were confined there without charges being preferred, and for other purposes.

The committee found that officers, even of high rank, and "having honorable scars," are now, and have been constantly confined there for months without any official notification, as required by law, of charges preferred against them, and sometimes put into close confinement. In some instances, those incarcerated are totally ignorant of the causes which led to their apprehension. In many cases the commitments are signed by L.C. Baker, purporting to act as agent of the War Department, and his oral directions are sufficient to make the terms of imprisonment more or less rigid according to his ideas in the premises.
/quote]

quote]
John Ellis, The Sights and Secrets of the National Capital
there can be no doubt that the old prison held many an innocent victim of political hostility and official malice. Many a good man, whose most earnest prayers were for the success of the Union arms, was immured within these walls in consequence of having offended some high official. We all know that there were many grave faults committed by the Administration during the Rebellion, not the least of which was its readiness to disregard the liberty and personal rights of the citizens of the Union. Stanton was an able and true man, and a good Secretary, but he was a despot also, and too hasty to arrest men upon very slight proof; and Mr. Seward was too fond of tinkling his "little bell." Ex-Chief Detective Baker sent, perhaps, the majority of prisoners to this institution. He had reduced blackmailing and intimidation to a science, and those who would not comply with his unlawful demands were moderately sure of a residence in this place. These arbitrary acts are a blot upon the country, which ought never to have been cast upon it.
/quote]
 
In the 1840 election campaign, future police minister Seward busied himself as professional liar for the Whig Party.
As a New York State Senator, he elaborately defended the Bank of the United States (January 31, 1832).
Seward was counsel for Erastus Corning, a large capitalist of Albany who was the head of the projectors of the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company which, in 1854, by fraud and corruption obtained from Congress an extensive land grant of 900,000 acres.
He was governor of New York when the free banking system was unleashed there; in 1863 it was the New York free banking system that was applied to the whole Union, as the national currency bank system, the forerunner of the federal reserve system.

quote]
Stanton did not originate the idea of the arbitrary arrests --a designation used eventually by advocates and opponents alike. These seizures were already in vogue when he entered upon his duties in Lincoln's Cabinet. On April 27, 1861, prior to the assembling of Congress in July, the President had authorized General Scott to suspend the privilege of habeas corpus at any point on the line of troop movements between Philadelphia and Washington. By July 2, the line was extended to New York, and on October 11 to Bangor, Maine. Without other authority, Secretary of State Seward, who had somehow attached this prerogative to his department, began to issue orders for the arrest and imprisonment of persons suspected of disloyal acts or designs in all parts of the country. Seward was quoted as having once boasted to Lord Lyon, the British ambassador: "My Lord, I can touch a bell on my right hand, and order the arrest of a citizen of Ohio; I can touch a bell again, and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York; and no power on earth, except that of the President, can release them. Can the Queen of England do so much ?"

On October 28, 1861, Secretary of State Seward authorized General McClellan to suspend the habeas corpus act in Maryland "and make arrests of traitors and their confederates in his discretion." McClellan in turn delegated the power to suspend the constitutional guarantees of American citizens to other subordinate officers. Thus the seeds for a reign of terror were carelessly sown. They were soon to bear fruit of a most unwholesome nature.
/quote]
Reign of terror really?
 
My preference is to read documents and history books, yes. May we have some good citations from those, rather than blocks of text from wikipedia?

I agree. I don't allow my students to rely on solely on wikipedia for research as its verification is a little sketchy. Documents, especially primary sources, are golden and books with verified sources are the most acceptable.
 
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