I went back to the well and paid another visit to Madison Square Park on Day 78. The park offers a number of different subjects to be featured during my challenge – boasting quite a collection of statues and monuments recognizing contributors to American history, including Chester A. Arthur (21st President of the United States), William Jenkins Worth (United States general during the Mexican-American War) and William H. Seward (US politician). Today, I chose to capture a photo of the statue of Seward.
Describing Seward (1801-1872) as merely a US politician, though, is a huge understatement. His political resume is impressive – 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson – but doesn’t tell the whole story of the man. He was born in Florida, New York, on May 16, 1801, which just so happens to be the next town over from where I grew up in Orange County. For local readers of the blog, you’ll recognize the name Seward because his father, Samuel Seward, was the founder of the S. S. Seward Institute, which is currently a secondary school in the Florida Union Free School District.
Seward, a 5-6” slight of build ginger, was a classically trained lawyer, having graduated with the highest honors from Union College in 1820; he was admitted to the New York State Bar the very next year. He moved to upstate Auburn, NY and spent the next several years practicing law and starting a family with Frances Adeline Miller (they had five children together). He began his political career in 1830, serving as a state senator. He was then named the Whig party candidate for Governor of New York in 1834 – an unsuccessful bid in a tight race with incumbent Democrat William Marcy. He again challenged Marcy in 1836 and won an even tighter election; he was narrowly re-elected to a second two-year term in 1840.
Seward became a staunch opponent of slavery in the 1830s and vehemently opposed the expansion of slavery. He acknowledged that slavery was technically legal under the constitution, but believed that it was morally wrong – he famously remarked in 1850 that “there is a higher law than the Constitution”.
Seward was on track to gain the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 1860, but got himself in trouble with a couple of political blunders that resulted in a failed bid. His lesser-known rival was a man named Abraham Lincoln who was seen as a safer choice when compared to the more radical, outspoken Seward. Lincoln, of course, went on to win the election, but recognized the intelligence of Seward and quickly appointed him to the position of Secretary of State in his cabinet. Interestingly, there was a failed assassination attempt on Seward the same night Lincoln was assassinated. Seward was viciously attacked in his home after Lewis Powell, an associate of John Wilkes Booth, gained entry after telling a servant that he was there to deliver medicine to the Secretary of State who was recovering from a recent near-fatal carriage accident. Ironically, it is believed that Seward’s jaw splint from injuries suffered in the earlier accident protected him enough from Powell’s knife attack to spare his life.
It took Seward several months to recover from his injuries, but he continued his political career as Secretary of State under new President Andrew Johnson. What’s believed to be his most famous political achievement happened under Johnson – the successful acquisition of Alaska from Russia. The most incredible part of the deal was the price he negotiated for the territory…$7.2 million (or approximately 2 cents per acre). He retired as Secretary of State after Ulysses S. Grant took office as president and spent the remaining years of his life both writing and travelling the world. He died on October 10, 1872 at the age of 71 and is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York.
Great post. I never knew about the attempt on his life and the connection to John Wilkes Booth.
Alex, I’ll take statues of famous men for $800.
Ask Harry if he knew that John Wilkes Booth’s brother, Edwin, was the most celebrated actor of his time and that JW’s successful assassination pushed Edwin off the pages of history and nearly into oblivion.
[…] NY, which just so happens to be the birthplace of William H. Seward who was featured in the blog on day 78. Florida is a village located in southern Orange County that was founded way back in 1760. In […]