William H. Seward was a potential candidate for the President of the United States in 1860, but his strong abolitionist beliefs motivated the Republican Party to nominate Abraham Lincoln for the presidency instead.

However, Abraham Lincoln selected him to be the United States Secretary of State, and he faced the challenge of trying to prevent the Civil War. Seward was a practical person, and he knew that the majority of Americans, North and South, were hostile to abolitionists and the abolition and slavery. So, to prevent the Civil War he worked to appeal to the Unionists of the North and South by downplaying slavery as the cause of the conflict.

Grady Atwater is site administrator of the John Brown Museum and State Historic Site.

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