secretaryseward-blog

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Brief History:

Hello! First post on my blog! On the left you can see my achievements but here’s a post more in-depth.

My name is William H. Seward, born in May 16, 1801 in Florida, New York in the great U.S. The H stands for Henry, which as a young lad I would go by. I went to school at Union College in Schenectady, New York from 1816-1819, but then I went to Georgia as a way to find myself. I ultimately went on to pass the bar exam in 1822. I went under the tutelage of retired Judge Elijah Miller whom’s daughter (Frances Miller) I went on to marry on October 20,1824 and be gifted my beautiful children all these years. I’ve always been heavily invested into politics which lead to me serving in the New York Senate from 1830 to 1834. I went on to form the Whig Party, which lead me to becoming governor of New York from 1839-1843 (Here is a painting of my official Gubernatorial portrait). I was always known for being the guy that was against slavery, even at this time. Once the Whig Party started comprising with pro-slavery ways, I had to leave and found myself among the Republican party which I’m proud to stand by and hope to be their president under them.

Harding, Chester. “ Official Gubernatorial portrait of New York Governor (and United States Secretary of State) William H. Seward.” Hall of Governors, August 28, 2014, http://www.hallofgovernors.ny.gov/WilliamSeward.

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January 1860

How did I influence the war?

I came back from my visit in England with Queen Victoria. To my surprise, I was being accused of inspiring John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. While I hoped for their success, my party could never back the acts of any extremist such as Brown. Nevertheless, I must head to Chicago for the Republican National Convention where I hope to become a candidate for the presidency.

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May 1860

Wow, getting blindsided for the Republican nomination like that was a complete shock to me. I have faith in congressman Lincoln to lead the country, even if my supporters don’t see it. As easy as it may be to just leave the political life, I’ll be going out there campaigning for him in efforts to get a Republican in office instead of the other three candidates.

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February 1861

 Congressman Lincoln, more like president-elect Lincoln! We did it! It’s been a long, but worthwhile journey these past few months. I was offered Secretary of State for Lincoln’s cabinet which I’ve accepted and hope to be confirmed once he’s inaugurated. While waiting till then, I have been going to work to come up with even more comprises with these southern states which I know Abe won’t allow, but anything for them not to secede. I heard Lincoln’s inaugural speech is too anti-south, which won’t help in my efforts to make us more united. So, I’ll be sure to revise it for boss man.

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April 1861- Well this isn’t what I wished for our country. The South attacked Fort Sumter and now war has broken out. I tried to convince them to surrender the fort, but Abe wouldn’t give. It is almost as if he knew this would be a pushing point for the Southerners. Now to deal with Britain and keeping them from aiding the South, or we may have two wars in our hands. My efforts will go towards making sure that doesn’t happen, but with all this talk about viewing the South as their own country is instilling fear of foreign help in a war that should be fought at home.

“Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation.” National Museum of American History, 26 Aug. 2013, https://americanhistory.si.edu/changing-america-emancipation-proclamation-1863-and-march-washington-1963/1863/lincoln-and.

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March 1862

I’m relieved to only have one job again. As much fun as it was to play sheriff for the Union, it took away from my duties as Secretary of State. After putting over eight hundred sympathizers and spies for the South in prison, I deemed it a job well done. Having power like that is unheard of even for the Queen of England. My greatest arrest was probably that of the Maryland legislators for even thinking of leaving the Union, shout out to my son Frederick Seward for his help in getting them behind bars.

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How did the war influence me?

I was always a target for my belief that African Americans had the same rights as their white counterparts. With the South’s history of violence against those who opposed slavery, I believed it inevitable that I would be a target. On April 14th, 1865, I was in bed recovering from a carriage accident that happened weeks prior. Later in the night, I was attacked by a rogue confederate soldier named Lewis Powell, who stabbed me multiple times in my own home. I was stabbed 5 times, 3 times on my neck and 2 times on my jaw. I barely survived, and was heartbroken to find my dear friend Abraham Lincoln was also attacked on the same day and did not survive. Apparently, there was a conspiracy to kill prominent Northern officials such as Lincoln, Johnson, and myself led by a man named John Wilkes Booth and other conspirators.

Powell, L. (2016). Fight in the Room – The Assassination and History of the Conspiracy. [online] BoothieBarn. Available at: https://boothiebarn.com/picture-galleries/seward-attempt/fight-in-the-room-the-assassination-and-history-of-the-conspiracy/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2019].

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I was left permanently disfigured on the right side of my face, here is a rare photo of me after recovering from the incident.

Bos, Carole "William Seward - Impact of Powell's Attack" AwesomeStories.com. May 31, 2014. Dec 02, 2019.       <http://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/William-Seward-Impact-of-Powell-s-Attack0>.

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A couple months after the failed assassination attempt on my life and the assassination of Lincoln, I served as Secretary of State to Abraham’s successor, Andrew Johnson. Johnson did not need as much advice from me as Lincoln did, he had his own counsel and seldom asked for my help. Instead, I took charge of acquiring more land for the United States. I successfully purchased Alaska from Russia in March 1867 for 7.2 million in gold. Although many people called me crazy for buying this land, I thought it was a smart investment because of possible the possible resources to be found and also expanding the United States territory by 25%. I also tried to acquire the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, but my efforts were in vain.

“Alaska: ‘Seward's Folly’ - Decades TV Network.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Mar. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO728KJWsxM&feature=youtu.be.

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September 1872

After Johnson failed to be elected as the president for the 1868 election, I thought it best to retire. Many thought I would become secretary of state for a third time under Ulysses S. Grant, but I have grown tired of the strenuous job. I decided I wanted to travel the world, and set off on a 9 month expedition, even travelling all the way up the Northern hemisphere to Alaska, the land I acquired for my precious country. Upon returning, I made it my mission to start writing my memoir of my early years, but got distracted  writing of my travels instead.

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Where our father lays with our mother and sister, may he rest in peace. Thank you to all his followers, this sadly will be his last post.

Sincerely, 

Augustus, Frederick, and William Jr. Seward

“Grave Thursday: William Seward.” BoothieBarn, 18 Nov. 2016, https://boothiebarn.com/2016/11/17/grave-thursday-william-seward/.