Join us on February 26, 2026, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm for a ZOOM Civil Conversation with the author, C. Evan Stewart
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William Henry Seward’s Quest to Save the Nation During the Secession Winter
In the winter of 1860-61, one man, William Henry Seward, Republican Senator from New York (the presumptive favorite for the 1860 Republican nomination for president; defeated by Lincoln on the third ballot), labored mightily to effectuate his plan to save the Union. Because of history’s (and historians’) heavy bias to portray Lincoln as almost a saint (see, for example, Jon Meacham’s “And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle” (Random House 2022)), Seward’s prodigious efforts have either been ignored, given short shrift, or looked upon as something less than honorable. This short book – based upon original archival research and a comprehensive review of secondary sources – tells the story of Seward’s efforts. Counter-factual history is always an iffy business. But Seward’s “plan” did help to keep the Upper South States in the Union during the months before the president-elect became the president. And had his counsel been followed after March 4th, perhaps the course of American History would have played out very differently.
About the author:
C. EVAN STEWART recently retired as a senior partner in an international law firm headquartered in New York City. He is a visiting professor at Cornell University and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. In addition, he is a contributing columnist for the New York Law Journal, New York Business Law Journal, and the Federal Bar Council Quarterly, and he has published approximately 300 articles on a variety of legal subjects. In 2016, he received the Sanford D. Levy Award from the New York State Bar Association for his contributions to the field of legal ethics. Stewart is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York, and a Director and Treasurer of Humanities in New York. He also wrote Myron Taylor: The Man Nobody Knew, The Worst Supreme Court Decisions, Ever! (And Related Tales), and Law in American History (And in Mine)
