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Overview
William Henry Seward was one of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century. Progressive governor of New York and outspoken US senator, he was the odds-on favorite to win the 1860 Republican nomination for president. As secretary of state and Lincoln’s closest adviser during the Civil War, Seward not only managed foreign affairs but had a substantial role in military, political, and personnel matters.
Some of Lincoln’s critics even saw Seward, erroneously, as the power behind the throne; this is why John Wilkes Booth and his colleagues attempted to kill Seward as well as Lincoln. Seward survived the assassin’s attack, continued as secretary of state, and emerged as a staunch supporter of President Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s controversial successor. Through his purchase of Alaska (“Seward’s Folly”), and his groundwork for the purchase of the Canal Zone and other territory, Seward set America on course to become a world empire.
Seward was not only important, he was fascinating. Most nights this well-known raconteur with unruly hair and untidy clothes would gather diplomats, soldiers, politicians, or actors around his table to enjoy a cigar, a drink, and a good story. Drawing on hundreds of sources not available to or neglected by previous biographers, Walter Stahr’s bestselling biography sheds new light on this complex and central figure, as well as on pivotal events of the Civil War and its aftermath.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781439121184 |
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Publisher: | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date: | 09/17/2013 |
Pages: | 720 |
Sales rank: | 235,201 |
Product dimensions: | 6.28(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.33(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Map List and Illustration Credits ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 "Elements of a Statesman": 1801-1830 7
Chapter 2 "Who Is William H. Seward?": 1831-1838 32
Chapter 3 "A Higher Standard of Social Perfection": 1839-1842 59
Chapter 4 "You and I Can and Must Do It": 1843-1849 86
Chapter 5 "A Higher Law Than the Constitution": 1849-1854 116
Chapter 6 "Foremost Statesman of the Whole North": 1854-1856 144
Chapter 7 "An Irrepressible Conflict": 1857-1859 165
Chapter 8 "Lincoln Nominated Third Ballot": 1860 182
Chapter 9 "Save the Union in My Own Way": November 1860-March 1861 210
Chapter 10 "I Must Do It": March-April 1861 252
Chapter 11 "Through the Fires of Tophet": 1861 282
Chapter 12 "Remove Him!": 1862 324
Chapter 13 "Ask Not Whether the Enemy Is Near": 1863 361
Chapter 14 "Firm and Hopeful": 1864 390
Chapter 15 "I Am Not Dead": 1865 417
Chapter 16 "Political Apostasy": 1866 453
Chapter 17 "Let Us Make the Treaty Tonight": 1867 478
Chapter 18 "I'll See You Damned First": 1868-1869 506
Chapter 19 "Nothing Remained… But to Keep in Motion 1869-1872 530
Acknowledgments 549
Notes 551
Index 661