Persons of Interest: William H. Seward
I wonder how differently the course of history would have flowed if, in 1860, the Republican Party had selected William Henry Seward as their candidate instead of Abraham Lincoln. Many expected Seward to be selected by the Republicans as their standard bearer that year, and the thought of that happening makes for interesting speculation about the alternate path that may have been taken if this had occurred.
Seward was born in Florida, New York, in Orange County, on May 16, 1801, the third son of Samuel Sweezy Seward and his wife, the former Mary Jennings Seward. Though William Seward would become a prominent abolitionist, his father Samuel was a wealthy landowner and a slaveholder at a time when slavery was still permitted in New York State. It was not fully abolished until 1827. Florida was 60 miles west of Manhattan. William Seward (called by his middle name of Henry as a boy) was a very good student who enjoyed his studies. He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York where he excelled. But in December 1818, in the middle of his final year at Union, he returned home following a quarrel with his father. He ended up in Georgia teaching at a school in Putnam County at age 17.
It was in Georgia that Seward witnessed the mistreatment of slaves.He returned to New York in June 1819 where he studied law at an attorney's office in Goshen before returning to Union College, where he graduated with highest honors in June 1820. After graduation, Seward continued the study of law in Goshen and New York City with attorneys John Duer, John Anthon and Ogden Hoffman. He passed his bar exam in 1822 and went to practice law in Auburn in Cayuga County, 150 miles west of Albany. He joined the practice of retired judge Elijah Miller, his future father-in-law. Seward married Frances Adeline Miller on October 20, 1824.
In 1824, while Seward was traveling with his wife to Niagara Falls, one of the wheels on his carriage was damaged. Publisher Thurlow Weed was passing by and came to Seward's aid. The two became close friends and Seward made a powerful political ally. Seward became involved himself in politics. At the time Martin Van Buren led the powerful Albany Regency faction of the Democratic Party. Seward originally supported the Regency, but by 1824 he left the organization, believing it to be corrupt.He joined the Anti-Masonic Party and was an opponent of Andrew Jackson, after Jackson was elected president in 1828.
During the 1828 campaign, Seward made speeches in support of the re-election of President John Quincy Adams. In 1830, with Thurlow Weed's support, Seward ran as an Anti-Masonic for state senator. He was elected by about 2,000 votes. During his term as state senator, Seward traveled extensively. When the Whig Party formed, in opposition to Jackson, Seward and Weed, along with many other Anti-Masons, joined the new party. In advance of the 1834 election, New York's Whigs met in Utica to choose a candidate for Governor. Once again with Weed's assistance, Seward won the nomination, but he was defeated in the general election by 11,000 votes. After his term in the state Senate expired, Seward returned home to Auburn to his law practice.
Fellow New Yorker Marin Van Buren was elected president in 1836, and rapidly lost popularity as the Panic of 1837 set in. Once again with Weed's help, Seward ran for Governor of New York as a Whig in 1838 and this time he was elected by a margin of about 10,000 votes out of 400,000. Seward was sworn in as New York's governor on January 1, 1839. He inherited a legislature controlled by Democrats who refused to co-operate with their new Governor except on the most urgent matters. In the 1839 legislative elections, Seward enlisted the aid of other prominent Whigs including Henry Clay. After the 1839 election, the Whigs had a slim majority of the legislature.
As Governor, Seward intervened when, in September 1839, a ship sailing from Norfolk, Virginia to New York City was discovered to have an escaped slave on board. The slave was returned to his owner pursuant to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution, but Virginia also demanded that three free African-American sailors, alleged to have concealed the fugitive, be surrendered as well. Seward refused to cooperate and the New York legislature passed legislation in 1840 protecting the rights of African Americans against Southern slave-catchers.
Seward was re-elected to a second term as governor in 1840. He continued his support of rights for African Americans, signing legislation in 1841 to repeal a "nine-month law" that allowed slaveholders to bring their slaves into the state for a period of nine months before they were considered free. After this, slaves brought to the state were immediately considered freed. He did not run for a third term, in part because he had incurred considerable personal debt and returned home to his profitable law practice. In 1844, Seward was asked to run for president by members of the Liberty Party, but he declined. In his law practice he frequently argued against the slaveholding interests.
In 1849 one of New York's senate seats was up for election. Seward, with Weed's approval, decided to seek the seat, which he won easily. He was sworn in as senator from New York on March 5, 1849 and developed a good relationship with Whig President Zachary Taylor. Seward opposed the pro-slavery elements of the Compromise of 1850, and a speech he gave on the Senate floor on March 11, 1850 led to his being considered as the leading anti-slavery advocate in the Senate. When Taylor died in July 1850 and Millard Fillmore of New York became President, this ended Seward's influence over patronage. Many Seward supporters in federal office in New York were replaced by Fillmore appointees.
The issue of slavery divided the Whig Party. Seward and his wife Frances were active in the abolitionist movement and they had opened their Auburn home as a safe house for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. In January 1854, Democratic Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas introduced his Kansas–Nebraska Bill, which proposed allowing territories to choose whether to join the Union as free or slave states. Seward was strongly opposed and spoke against the bill both on initial consideration in the Senate and when the bill returned after reconciliation with the House.
In February 1855, Seward narrowly won re-election to the senate. The Republican Party had been founded in 1854, in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Its anti-slavery stance was attractive to Seward, but he needed the Whig structure in New York to get re-elected. In September 1855, the New York Whig and Republican parties held simultaneous conventions that quickly merged into one. Seward was the most prominent figure to join the new party, and was considered as a possible presidential candidate in 1856. Weed counselled against doing so and Seward declined the honor. After James Buchanan was elected president, Seward accused Buchanan and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of conspiring to gain a pro-slavery result in the infamous Dred Scott decision. Seward emerged as a leading opponent of slavery.
In 1859, Seward left the country for an eight-month tour of Europe and the Middle East. He spent two months in London, meeting with the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, and was presented at Court to Queen Victoria. He returned to Washington in January 1860. Some southerners blamed his anti-slavery rhetoric for inspiring John Brown to try to start a slave insurrection. Seward made a major speech in the Senate on February 29, 1860, in which he tried to chart a middle course between abolitionists and slave-holders. In doing so, he further alienated both camps. In spite of this, Seward was seen as the leading contender for the Republican nomination for president in 1860. At the 1860 Republican National Convention held in May in Chicago, Weed was present on Seward's behalf and worked to shore up Seward's support. Seward ally Horace Greeley cast doubts as to Seward's electability in the battleground states of Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. On the first ballot, Seward had 173½ votes to Lincoln's 102, with 233 needed to nominate. Pennsylvania shifted its vote to Lincoln on the second ballot, and Seward's lead was cut to 184½ to 181. On the third ballot, Lincoln had 231½ to Seward's 180 after the roll call, but Ohio changed four votes from Chase to Lincoln, giving Lincoln the nomination. When word of the result reached Seward by telegraph, he reacted stoically, though privately he was said to be devastated by the loss.
Seward contemplated ending his political career, but he dutifully worked for Lincoln's election. New York was key to the election and Seward embarked on a tour across New York State, speaking to large crowds on Lincoln's behalf. On Election Day, Lincoln was elected with a majority of electoral votes, but less than 40% of the popular vote. Following Lincoln's election, South Carolina and other southern states began to call conventions for the purpose of secession. Seward was offered the position of Secretary of State and he accepted the offer on December 28, 1860. As states in the Deep South prepared to secede in late 1860, Seward met with important figures from both sides of the issue and even introduced a proposed constitutional amendment preventing federal interference with slavery. Seward voted against the compromise proposed by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden, but he continued to seek a compromise that would keep the border states in the Union.
Lincoln arrived in Washington early on the morning of February 23, 1861. Seward had been advised by General Winfield Scott that there was a plot to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore when he passed through the city and he sent his son Frederick to warn Lincoln in Philadelphia. Later that morning, Seward accompanied Lincoln to the White House, where he introduced the Illinoisan to President Buchanan.
When the war started Seward turned his attention to making sure that foreign powers did not intervene in the conflict. Britain did not challenge the Union blockade of Confederate ports. In November 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail ship RMS Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. The British minister in Washington, Lord Lyons demanded their release, as the U.S. had no right to stop a British-flagged ship traveling between neutral ports. Seward worked to defuse the situation. Relations between the U.S. and Britain soon improved. In November 1862, with America's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the British cabinet decided against recognition of the Confederacy as a nation. When Seward received allegations that former president Pierce was involved in a plot against the Union, he asked Pierce for an explanation. Pierce indignantly denied it. The matter proved to be a hoax, and Seward experienced some embarrassment over the incident.
Despite his initial reservations about Lincoln's abilities, Seward came to admire Lincoln. He wrote to his wife in June 1861, "Executive skill and vigor are rare qualities. The President is the best of us, but he needs constant and assiduous cooperation." According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, "Seward would become [Lincoln's] most faithful ally in the cabinet." The two men developed a close personal and professional relationship. However first lady Mary Lincoln developed a strong dislike for Seward.
Seward accompanied Lincoln to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863, where Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. When Lincoln approached his re-election in 1864, many Republicans advocated for Seward's replacement, but Lincoln rejected this suggestion. Seward sat with Lincoln and the assistant presidential secretary, John Hay, as the returns came in.
When John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, he assigned Lewis Powell to assassinate Seward. Seward had been hurt in an accident some days before, and Powell gained entry to the home on the excuse he was delivering medicine. Powell was stopped at the top of the stairs by Frederick Seward, who insisted Powell give him the medicine. Powell attempted to fire on Frederick, and beat him over the head with the barrel of his gun when it misfired. Powell burst through the door, threw Seward's daughter Fanny to one side, and jumped on the bed, and stabbed William Seward in the face and neck five times. A soldier assigned to guard and nurse the secretary, Private George F. Robinson, intervened and Powell fled. Almost simultaneously, Booth had mortally wounded Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.
Powell was captured the next day at the boarding house of Mary Surratt, and was executed on July 7, 1865, along with Herold, Atzerodt, and Mrs. Surratt, convicted as conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Seward's wife Frances died on June 21, 1865.
In the first months of the new Johnson administration, Seward was recovering from his injuries. He was not as close with Johnson as he had been with Lincoln. During Johnson`s term one of the issues that Seward confronted was the French presence in Mexico. In January 1866, Napoleon III agreed to withdraw his troops upon Seward`s demand that he do so, but the French monarch tried to postpone the departure. A large number of American troops were posted on the north bank of the Rio Grande. The French withdrew in early 1867, abandoning the puppet Mexican Emperor Maximilian, who was soon captured by Mexican troops. Above both the U.S. and France protests, the deposed emperor was executed by firing squad on June 19, 1867.
Seward believed that the U.S. needed a naval base in the Caribbean. In late 1865 he sailed for the Caribbean on a naval vessel, calling upon several Caribbean nations. He opened talks to obtain Samaná Bay and he later sent his son Frederick to the Dominican Republic to negotiate a treaty. The effort was unsuccessful.
Perhaps Seward`s most famous accomplishment as Secretary of State was the Alaska purchase. In 1866 the Russian minister, Baron Eduard de Stoeckl was given the authority to sell Alaska, fearing that the territory would be overtaken by Americans in any event. Seward initially offered $5 million, and a deal was struck at $7 million. On March 15, 1867, Seward presented a draft treaty to the Cabinet. The final purchase price was increased to $7.2 million. The treaty was signed on March 30, 1867, and ratified by the Senate on April 10.
In 1868 General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President and Seward met twice with Grant after the election, leading to speculation that he would remain as secretary for a third presidential term. However, the president-elect had other ideas and Seward left the position of Secretary of State at the end of the Johnson administration. Seward embarked on a trip across North America by the new transcontinental railroad. He met with Mormon leader Brigham Young in Salt lake City and later, on reaching the Pacific Coast, the Seward party took a steamer north to visit Sitka, Alaska. After spending time in Oregon and California, the party went to Mexico, where he was given a warm welcome. Later he visited Cuba, concluding his trip of nine months. In August 1870, Seward embarked on another trip, westbound around the world. With him was Olive Risley, daughter of a Treasury Department official, to whom he became close in his final year in Washington. They visited Japan, then China, where they walked on the Great Wall. During the trip, it was agreed that Seward would adopt Olive, ending speculative gossip that Seward was planning to remarry late in life. They spent three months in India, then journeyed through the Middle East and Europe, before returning home to Auburn until October 1871.
Once back in Auburn, Seward began to write his memoirs. He only reached his thirties before setting the memoirs aside to write of his travels. In these months his health worsened. On October 10, 1872, he worked at his desk in the morning as usual, then complained of trouble breathing. Seward grew worse during the day, as his family gathered around him. He was asked if he had any final words, he said, "Love one another." Seward died later that afternoon. He is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.
Seward was born in Florida, New York, in Orange County, on May 16, 1801, the third son of Samuel Sweezy Seward and his wife, the former Mary Jennings Seward. Though William Seward would become a prominent abolitionist, his father Samuel was a wealthy landowner and a slaveholder at a time when slavery was still permitted in New York State. It was not fully abolished until 1827. Florida was 60 miles west of Manhattan. William Seward (called by his middle name of Henry as a boy) was a very good student who enjoyed his studies. He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York where he excelled. But in December 1818, in the middle of his final year at Union, he returned home following a quarrel with his father. He ended up in Georgia teaching at a school in Putnam County at age 17.
It was in Georgia that Seward witnessed the mistreatment of slaves.He returned to New York in June 1819 where he studied law at an attorney's office in Goshen before returning to Union College, where he graduated with highest honors in June 1820. After graduation, Seward continued the study of law in Goshen and New York City with attorneys John Duer, John Anthon and Ogden Hoffman. He passed his bar exam in 1822 and went to practice law in Auburn in Cayuga County, 150 miles west of Albany. He joined the practice of retired judge Elijah Miller, his future father-in-law. Seward married Frances Adeline Miller on October 20, 1824.
In 1824, while Seward was traveling with his wife to Niagara Falls, one of the wheels on his carriage was damaged. Publisher Thurlow Weed was passing by and came to Seward's aid. The two became close friends and Seward made a powerful political ally. Seward became involved himself in politics. At the time Martin Van Buren led the powerful Albany Regency faction of the Democratic Party. Seward originally supported the Regency, but by 1824 he left the organization, believing it to be corrupt.He joined the Anti-Masonic Party and was an opponent of Andrew Jackson, after Jackson was elected president in 1828.
During the 1828 campaign, Seward made speeches in support of the re-election of President John Quincy Adams. In 1830, with Thurlow Weed's support, Seward ran as an Anti-Masonic for state senator. He was elected by about 2,000 votes. During his term as state senator, Seward traveled extensively. When the Whig Party formed, in opposition to Jackson, Seward and Weed, along with many other Anti-Masons, joined the new party. In advance of the 1834 election, New York's Whigs met in Utica to choose a candidate for Governor. Once again with Weed's assistance, Seward won the nomination, but he was defeated in the general election by 11,000 votes. After his term in the state Senate expired, Seward returned home to Auburn to his law practice.
Fellow New Yorker Marin Van Buren was elected president in 1836, and rapidly lost popularity as the Panic of 1837 set in. Once again with Weed's help, Seward ran for Governor of New York as a Whig in 1838 and this time he was elected by a margin of about 10,000 votes out of 400,000. Seward was sworn in as New York's governor on January 1, 1839. He inherited a legislature controlled by Democrats who refused to co-operate with their new Governor except on the most urgent matters. In the 1839 legislative elections, Seward enlisted the aid of other prominent Whigs including Henry Clay. After the 1839 election, the Whigs had a slim majority of the legislature.
As Governor, Seward intervened when, in September 1839, a ship sailing from Norfolk, Virginia to New York City was discovered to have an escaped slave on board. The slave was returned to his owner pursuant to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution, but Virginia also demanded that three free African-American sailors, alleged to have concealed the fugitive, be surrendered as well. Seward refused to cooperate and the New York legislature passed legislation in 1840 protecting the rights of African Americans against Southern slave-catchers.
Seward was re-elected to a second term as governor in 1840. He continued his support of rights for African Americans, signing legislation in 1841 to repeal a "nine-month law" that allowed slaveholders to bring their slaves into the state for a period of nine months before they were considered free. After this, slaves brought to the state were immediately considered freed. He did not run for a third term, in part because he had incurred considerable personal debt and returned home to his profitable law practice. In 1844, Seward was asked to run for president by members of the Liberty Party, but he declined. In his law practice he frequently argued against the slaveholding interests.
In 1849 one of New York's senate seats was up for election. Seward, with Weed's approval, decided to seek the seat, which he won easily. He was sworn in as senator from New York on March 5, 1849 and developed a good relationship with Whig President Zachary Taylor. Seward opposed the pro-slavery elements of the Compromise of 1850, and a speech he gave on the Senate floor on March 11, 1850 led to his being considered as the leading anti-slavery advocate in the Senate. When Taylor died in July 1850 and Millard Fillmore of New York became President, this ended Seward's influence over patronage. Many Seward supporters in federal office in New York were replaced by Fillmore appointees.
The issue of slavery divided the Whig Party. Seward and his wife Frances were active in the abolitionist movement and they had opened their Auburn home as a safe house for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. In January 1854, Democratic Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas introduced his Kansas–Nebraska Bill, which proposed allowing territories to choose whether to join the Union as free or slave states. Seward was strongly opposed and spoke against the bill both on initial consideration in the Senate and when the bill returned after reconciliation with the House.
In February 1855, Seward narrowly won re-election to the senate. The Republican Party had been founded in 1854, in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Its anti-slavery stance was attractive to Seward, but he needed the Whig structure in New York to get re-elected. In September 1855, the New York Whig and Republican parties held simultaneous conventions that quickly merged into one. Seward was the most prominent figure to join the new party, and was considered as a possible presidential candidate in 1856. Weed counselled against doing so and Seward declined the honor. After James Buchanan was elected president, Seward accused Buchanan and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of conspiring to gain a pro-slavery result in the infamous Dred Scott decision. Seward emerged as a leading opponent of slavery.
In 1859, Seward left the country for an eight-month tour of Europe and the Middle East. He spent two months in London, meeting with the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, and was presented at Court to Queen Victoria. He returned to Washington in January 1860. Some southerners blamed his anti-slavery rhetoric for inspiring John Brown to try to start a slave insurrection. Seward made a major speech in the Senate on February 29, 1860, in which he tried to chart a middle course between abolitionists and slave-holders. In doing so, he further alienated both camps. In spite of this, Seward was seen as the leading contender for the Republican nomination for president in 1860. At the 1860 Republican National Convention held in May in Chicago, Weed was present on Seward's behalf and worked to shore up Seward's support. Seward ally Horace Greeley cast doubts as to Seward's electability in the battleground states of Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. On the first ballot, Seward had 173½ votes to Lincoln's 102, with 233 needed to nominate. Pennsylvania shifted its vote to Lincoln on the second ballot, and Seward's lead was cut to 184½ to 181. On the third ballot, Lincoln had 231½ to Seward's 180 after the roll call, but Ohio changed four votes from Chase to Lincoln, giving Lincoln the nomination. When word of the result reached Seward by telegraph, he reacted stoically, though privately he was said to be devastated by the loss.
Seward contemplated ending his political career, but he dutifully worked for Lincoln's election. New York was key to the election and Seward embarked on a tour across New York State, speaking to large crowds on Lincoln's behalf. On Election Day, Lincoln was elected with a majority of electoral votes, but less than 40% of the popular vote. Following Lincoln's election, South Carolina and other southern states began to call conventions for the purpose of secession. Seward was offered the position of Secretary of State and he accepted the offer on December 28, 1860. As states in the Deep South prepared to secede in late 1860, Seward met with important figures from both sides of the issue and even introduced a proposed constitutional amendment preventing federal interference with slavery. Seward voted against the compromise proposed by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden, but he continued to seek a compromise that would keep the border states in the Union.
Lincoln arrived in Washington early on the morning of February 23, 1861. Seward had been advised by General Winfield Scott that there was a plot to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore when he passed through the city and he sent his son Frederick to warn Lincoln in Philadelphia. Later that morning, Seward accompanied Lincoln to the White House, where he introduced the Illinoisan to President Buchanan.
When the war started Seward turned his attention to making sure that foreign powers did not intervene in the conflict. Britain did not challenge the Union blockade of Confederate ports. In November 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail ship RMS Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. The British minister in Washington, Lord Lyons demanded their release, as the U.S. had no right to stop a British-flagged ship traveling between neutral ports. Seward worked to defuse the situation. Relations between the U.S. and Britain soon improved. In November 1862, with America's issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the British cabinet decided against recognition of the Confederacy as a nation. When Seward received allegations that former president Pierce was involved in a plot against the Union, he asked Pierce for an explanation. Pierce indignantly denied it. The matter proved to be a hoax, and Seward experienced some embarrassment over the incident.
Despite his initial reservations about Lincoln's abilities, Seward came to admire Lincoln. He wrote to his wife in June 1861, "Executive skill and vigor are rare qualities. The President is the best of us, but he needs constant and assiduous cooperation." According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, "Seward would become [Lincoln's] most faithful ally in the cabinet." The two men developed a close personal and professional relationship. However first lady Mary Lincoln developed a strong dislike for Seward.
Seward accompanied Lincoln to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863, where Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. When Lincoln approached his re-election in 1864, many Republicans advocated for Seward's replacement, but Lincoln rejected this suggestion. Seward sat with Lincoln and the assistant presidential secretary, John Hay, as the returns came in.
When John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, he assigned Lewis Powell to assassinate Seward. Seward had been hurt in an accident some days before, and Powell gained entry to the home on the excuse he was delivering medicine. Powell was stopped at the top of the stairs by Frederick Seward, who insisted Powell give him the medicine. Powell attempted to fire on Frederick, and beat him over the head with the barrel of his gun when it misfired. Powell burst through the door, threw Seward's daughter Fanny to one side, and jumped on the bed, and stabbed William Seward in the face and neck five times. A soldier assigned to guard and nurse the secretary, Private George F. Robinson, intervened and Powell fled. Almost simultaneously, Booth had mortally wounded Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.
Powell was captured the next day at the boarding house of Mary Surratt, and was executed on July 7, 1865, along with Herold, Atzerodt, and Mrs. Surratt, convicted as conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Seward's wife Frances died on June 21, 1865.
In the first months of the new Johnson administration, Seward was recovering from his injuries. He was not as close with Johnson as he had been with Lincoln. During Johnson`s term one of the issues that Seward confronted was the French presence in Mexico. In January 1866, Napoleon III agreed to withdraw his troops upon Seward`s demand that he do so, but the French monarch tried to postpone the departure. A large number of American troops were posted on the north bank of the Rio Grande. The French withdrew in early 1867, abandoning the puppet Mexican Emperor Maximilian, who was soon captured by Mexican troops. Above both the U.S. and France protests, the deposed emperor was executed by firing squad on June 19, 1867.
Seward believed that the U.S. needed a naval base in the Caribbean. In late 1865 he sailed for the Caribbean on a naval vessel, calling upon several Caribbean nations. He opened talks to obtain Samaná Bay and he later sent his son Frederick to the Dominican Republic to negotiate a treaty. The effort was unsuccessful.
Perhaps Seward`s most famous accomplishment as Secretary of State was the Alaska purchase. In 1866 the Russian minister, Baron Eduard de Stoeckl was given the authority to sell Alaska, fearing that the territory would be overtaken by Americans in any event. Seward initially offered $5 million, and a deal was struck at $7 million. On March 15, 1867, Seward presented a draft treaty to the Cabinet. The final purchase price was increased to $7.2 million. The treaty was signed on March 30, 1867, and ratified by the Senate on April 10.
In 1868 General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President and Seward met twice with Grant after the election, leading to speculation that he would remain as secretary for a third presidential term. However, the president-elect had other ideas and Seward left the position of Secretary of State at the end of the Johnson administration. Seward embarked on a trip across North America by the new transcontinental railroad. He met with Mormon leader Brigham Young in Salt lake City and later, on reaching the Pacific Coast, the Seward party took a steamer north to visit Sitka, Alaska. After spending time in Oregon and California, the party went to Mexico, where he was given a warm welcome. Later he visited Cuba, concluding his trip of nine months. In August 1870, Seward embarked on another trip, westbound around the world. With him was Olive Risley, daughter of a Treasury Department official, to whom he became close in his final year in Washington. They visited Japan, then China, where they walked on the Great Wall. During the trip, it was agreed that Seward would adopt Olive, ending speculative gossip that Seward was planning to remarry late in life. They spent three months in India, then journeyed through the Middle East and Europe, before returning home to Auburn until October 1871.
Once back in Auburn, Seward began to write his memoirs. He only reached his thirties before setting the memoirs aside to write of his travels. In these months his health worsened. On October 10, 1872, he worked at his desk in the morning as usual, then complained of trouble breathing. Seward grew worse during the day, as his family gathered around him. He was asked if he had any final words, he said, "Love one another." Seward died later that afternoon. He is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.