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William Henry Seward: Lincoln's Right Hand

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This is a poor imitation of the Van Deusen Biography. Apart from the story of the Emancipation Proclamtion painting that was altered to show Lincoln and not Seward as the central character Mr. Taylor adds nothing new to the story. He could have reassessed the Lincoln/Seward relationship on the grounds that he knew when he wrote his book that Lincoln never sent the letter in reply to the "April Fools" memo, a fact that Van Deusen was unaware of. His failure to do so and to invent a meeting between the two men labels him a poor historian.Alan Lowe. Manchester Metropolitan University. England.

You will like William Henry Seward. A two time Governor of New York and two-term United States Senator, he was what we would today call a liberal. An idealist by nature, he was also a practical, hardnosed politician, one with significant backbone. An early and staunch abolitionist whose home was part of the Underground Railroad he once said, "How strange people will go mad for the freedom of White men and mad against the freedom of black men." Admonishing Stephen Douglas during the infamous Kansas-Nebraska debate, he warned Douglas whose Presidential aspirations were well known, "Stephen, people who spell Negro with two "g"s will never become President of the United States." Like I said, you will like this man. He was a good man, one with a significant backbone.

After pro slavery forces push through the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Democrats have second thoughts. They were right to be concerned because the Act set in motion a visceral change in American politics. Four short years would see the destruction of the Whig Party, the emergence of the Republican Party and a debilitating split in the Democratic Party along sectional lines. Not quick enough to become a Republican in 1856 and too slow to wrap up the Republican nomination in 1860, Seward loses his only opportunity for the Presidency, a position he sincerely wished for, to Abraham Lincoln. But he does not pout and seeks to serve, becoming Lincoln's Secretary of State. In the process he would become one of Lincoln's best friends, personal confidents and, as the subtitle of the book states, Lincoln's right hand.

In the early days of Lincoln's administration, he thought his political experience and skills would enable him to dominate the President and the Cabinet. But after an awkward start Seward's service during the Civil War was exemplary. His major foreign policy accomplishments during the Civil War years were eliminating the possibility of European recognition of the Confederacy, terminating the construction and outfitting of Confederate cruisers in British ports and ending the French invasion of Mexico. Seward also played an integral role in resolving the Trent Affair, a quite serious U.S. transgression against Britain, and in negotiating the Lyons-Seward Treaty of 1862, which set forth aggressive measures by which the United States and Great Britain agreed to end the Atlantic slave trade.

Seward was wounded by a John Wilkes Booth associate the same night that Abraham Lincoln was murdered. After his recovery, Seward remained as Secretary of State in Andrew Johnson's administration. Although Seward had been an early anti-slavery Whig, then a leading anti-slavery Republican, he ultimately supported Johnson's lenient plan of Southern Reconstruction against the Radical Republicans. He supported the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery but adopted a conciliatory tone toward the formerly secessionist states and toward former slave owners. No doubt influenced by Lincoln, Seward opposed the Fourteenth Amendment because of its limits on participation in our government by former Confederates.

Always an economic expansionist he supported public works legislation such as the transatlantic cable, the transcontinental railroad, the Homestead Act and the Morrell Land Grant Act which established today's extensive system of Land Grant universities throughout the United States. He was instrumental in extending American influence throughout the Pacific, acquiring the Midway Island Atoll in the central Pacific and negotiating the purchase of Alaska from Russia.

This is one interesting biography about an intriguing and selfless man who was one of the truly pivotal political figures of the nineteenth century. You will enjoy this work by John Taylor but be prepared; the writing is, at times, a bit academic.

There was little, however, that was humdrum about Seward.

This book is fascinating in that it describes Seward as a complex mix of idealism and political ambition. He dearly wanted to be president but served Lincoln and Johnson faithfully. He had a vision of what America could be, was always interested in inmproving the young nation's infrastructure, reformed prisons as NY's governor, as Lincoln's Secretary of State, he kept France and England from supporting the confederacy, and almost single handedly arranged the purchase of Alaska. A detailed but very readable book for the history buff and general reader. Well done.

You need to understand this man to understand Lincoln and his presidency. Good job, well done.