During his tenure in the Senate Seward became a leading antislavery activist. He was one of the foremost critics of the Compromise of , a group of measures that tightened the fugitive slave law and maintained the slave trade in the South. Seward was reelected to the Senate in and later joined the Republican Party after the dissolution of the Whigs.
His support in the party dwindled, and he lost the nomination to Abraham Lincoln in May In December Seward accepted an appointment to serve as secretary of state in the cabinet of President-elect Abraham Lincoln. Seward spent the early months of his tenure in a desperate effort to preserve the Union and avoid civil war. Hoping to ensure that the precarious border states remained sympathetic to the Union, he cautioned Lincoln against using force during the siege at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
During what became known as the Trent Affair , he was instrumental in smoothing over tensions with the United Kingdom after the U. Navy seized two Confederate envoys from a British ship. While Seward narrowly prevented the French from recognizing the Confederacy, he was unable to stop the emperor from establishing a monarchy in Mexico in On the night of April 14, , a former Confederate soldier named Lewis Powell attacked Seward—who was in bed recovering from a carriage accident—and stabbed him multiple times with a bowie knife.
Seward narrowly survived the attempt on his life and spent several weeks recovering from wounds to his neck and face. During this time he was instrumental in efforts to reintegrate the South into the United States. In Seward pressured the French government into abandoning its occupation of Mexico and later busied himself with increasing American commercial activity abroad.
Seward left office in following the inauguration of President Ulysses S. He would spend his final years traveling, beginning with trips to the western United States, Alaska and Mexico. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves. William Penn was an English Quaker best known for founding the colony of Pennsylvania as a place for religious freedom in America.
James Garfield is best known as the 20th president of the United States. He was assassinated after only a few months in office. Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the U. House of Representatives during Abraham Lincoln's presidency, fought to abolish slavery and helped draft the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction.
William H. Johnson was an artist who used a primitive style of painting to depict the experience of African Americans during the s and '40s. Ulysses S. Grant served as U. He won a seat in the State Senate in , and served as Governor from to In , Seward was elected to the U. Senate, where became a leading antislavery politician.
Seward was the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in , but his antislavery speeches caused some party members to view him as too radical to win over swing voters in critical states. The party instead settled on the more moderate Abraham Lincoln, whose victory in the general election precipitated the secession of the South and formation of the Confederate States of America.
Along with other political leaders, Seward unsuccessfully negotiated to resolve the secession crisis during the winter of After his use of the insanity defense in the trial of William Freeman, Seward was known as a great advocate for the defenseless with a sharp legal mind.
He became U. Senator from NY in , one of only a few strictly anti-slavery politicians. After a colorful tenure in Congress Seward had his eye on the highest office in the land, but was defeated in the Republican primary by a single term legislator from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln soon asked Seward to serve as Secretary of State if he won the election. Seward served with distinction and great political aptitude under Lincoln, and in the end the rivals became close colleagues.
Seward was violently attacked on the night that Lincoln was shot as part of a larger conspiracy by a rogue group of Confederate sympathizers. He survived and ultimately recovered. Upon his retirement, Seward traveled the world on a grand tour which spanned 15 months and several continents.
He returned home an old but satisfied elder statesman. Surrounded by his family he passed away in October of in his office.
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