Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/327

 SEWARD

SEWARD

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The Tenijjle Choir (ISQl); The Pestalozzian Music Teacher, with Lowell Masou (1871); Coronation (1872); The School of Life (1894); Heaven Every Da?/ (1896); Don't Worry, or the Scientific Law of Happiness (1897); Sjnritual Knowing, or Bible Sunshine (1900); How to get Acquainted with God (1903). He died in Orange, N.J., at the home of his daughter, Aug. 30, 1903.

SEWARD, William Henry, statesman, was born in Florida, Orange county, N.Y., May 16, 1801; son of Dr. Samuel Swezy and Mary (Jen- nings) Seward; grandson of Col. John and Mary <Svvezy) Seward, and of Isaac and Margaret Jen- nings, and a descend- ant of ancestors from Wales, of whom Oba- diali Seward was the first to come to America about 1650. He was prepared for college at Farmer's Hall academy, Gosh- en, N.Y., and matric- ulated at Union col- lege, Schenectady, N.Y., in the class of 1820, but left in his junior year without the consent of his father, who had re- proved him for. his extravagance in college. He taught scliool in Georgia six months, 1819-20, when his father obliged him to return, and he ■was graduated with his class notwithstanding his year's absence. He read law with John Anthon in New York city, and with John Duer and Ogden Hoffman in Goshen, and after his admission to the bar in 1832, became the law partner of Elijah Miller at Auburn, N.Y. He was married, Oct. ■20, 183-1. to Frances Adeline, daughter of Elijah Miller. He was a National Republican in politics; made the friendship of Thurlow Weed at Roch- ester, N.Y., in 1834;, delivered a Fourth of July address at Auburn in 1835, which marked his place in the community as an orator, and he was appointed on the committee to welcome Lafayette to that city in 1835. He spoke in behalf of the suffering Greeks in February, 1837, and through his efforts a large sum of money was collected in western New York for their aid. He was elected presiding officer over the convention of young men of the state held in Utica, Aug. 12, 1827, where he advocated the claims of John Quincy Adams for re-nomination, and he declined the Anti-Masonic nomination as candidate for repre- sentative in the 21st congress in 1838; was elected state senator in 1830, and that year became, with Thurlow Weed and Millard Fillmore, a leader of the Anti-Masonic party which rapidly displaced

the National Republican party as opponents to the Democrats in New York, and at the national convention at Baltimore in September, 1831, nominated William W^irt of Marjdand for Pres- ident, and Amos EUmaker of Pennsylvania for Vice-President, but in the election of 1833 these candidates received only the electoral vote of Vermont. In the senate Mr. Seward led in op- posing the national administration and at the close of both sessions, drew up an address of the minority of the legislature to the people. At the opening of the second session of the state senate, January, 1833, he defended the United States bank in a speech which at once placed him among the powerful opponents to the policy of President Jackson. He followed this speech in 1834 with a denunciation of the removal of the government deposits from the bank, which ex- tended his national reputation. He was the Whig candidate for governor of New York in September, 1834, and in the election in November was defeated by William L. Marcy. In 1835 he made a carriage trip with his wife through Penn- sylvania and Virginia to the Natural Bridge, Monticello and Fredericksburg, and back through Maryland and New Jersey to his home. In 1836 he took no prominent part in the political cam- paign, being absent from Auburn, having gone to Chautauqua county on legal business connected with a controversy between the Holland Land company and its tenants. He was elected, as a Whig, governor of New York in 1838; was in- augurated, Jan. 1, 1839; re-elected in 1840. and closed his gubernatorial service, Jan. 1, 1843. He carried out his convictions on the subject of slavery by refusing the rendition of slaves found in the state, without a trial by jury to determine their rights, and he obtained from the legislature the passage of an act in which the state agreed to pay for counsel to defend the slaves; this action brought him in controversy with the gov- ernors of both Virginia and Geoi'gia. He also quieted the anti-rent troubles in the state; ob- tained assistance for the amelioration of the con- dition of the insane, and better discipline in the prisons of the state; secured public school laws by which equal privileges were given to the various religious denominations in the matter of select- ing teachers of the young, and proposed extended plans for enlarging the canal and railroad facili- ties in the state. Although his legal practice was large, he gave his services freely for the defence of the poor. He was elected U.S. senator in 1849, and became President Taylor's most trusted counsellor in the senate. He opposed all compromise with slavery and parted with Presi- dent Fillmore and many of his Whig friends on the subject. He was active in procuring the nomination of Gen. Winfield Scott as Fillmore's