Existing comment:
Secretary of State William H. Seward:
In his long political career as governor and senator from New York, Seward had championed the rights of persecuted Catholics as well as fugitive slaves. In the process, he alienated both pro-slavery southerners and the more cautious members of his own anti-slavery party.
The presumptive favorite for the 1860 Republican nomination, Seward initially took his defeat by "a little Illinois lawyer" hard. Over time the two men forged a close alliance. Lincoln entrusted foreign policy to Seward, who came to respect the president's leadership. With his hawk-like nose, casual dress, and perpetual cigar, Seward was one of Washington's more colorful figures. His gift of mimicry helped seal the bond with storytelling Lincoln, though Mary Lincoln never made friends with the man she denounced as "that dirty abolition sneak." |