| abstract | - William Henry Seward, Sr. (May 16, 1801 - October 10, 1872) was a Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Seward had been an early contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860, but his outspoken opposition to slavery probably cost him. Initially skeptical of Lincoln, he soon became one of the President's most loyal allies and cabinet members. Seward survived a knife wound inflicted by an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, the same night Lincoln was assassinated. He orchestrated the US purchase of Russian Alaska in 1867.
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