William H. Seward

William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801–October 16, 1872) was United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He attended Union College, studying law. He ended his college when he graduated in 1820, with high honors. He then stop his law practice and became a politican. He was part of the whigs-he formed this party and was there leader. His parents names were Samuel Sweezy Seward and mother Mary (Jennings) Seward. He was married to Frances Adeline Miller. They had two daughters and three sons. The daughters names were Cornelia Sewar-1835-1836, and Francis Adeline Seward-1844-1866. The three sons names were Frederick William Seward-1830-1915, William Henry Seward Jr.-1839-1920, and Augustus Henry Seward-1826-1876.

Seward served as a state senator of New York from 1831 to 1834, as Governor of New York from 1839 to 1843, and as a United States Senator from New York from 1849 through 1861. Abraham Lincoln appointed him Secretary of State in 1861 and he served until 1869.

As Secretary of State, he fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska which he finally negotiated to acquire from Russia for $7,200,000 on March 30, 1867. This translated into approximately 2.5 cents per acre for 586,400 square miles of territory, three times the size of Texas. The purchase of this frontier land ("Seward's Icebox") was mocked as "Seward's Folly" and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden".

His portrait appeared on the 1891 series fifty dollar treasury note.

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Preceded by: Jeremiah S. Black

Secretary of State of the United States

Succeeded by: Elihu P. Washburne