William H Seward T Shirt

William H Seward 1801 - 1872 U.S. secretary of state, state governor, and U.S. senator, born in New York. As governor of New York, Seward promoted education and internal improvements, advocated humane reform of the prison system and mental health care, and was outspokenly against slavery. in 1860, he lost a bid for the Presidency to Abraham Lincoln. He was given a position with the State Department as a consolation prize. Initially, he proposed war with war with France and Spain as an effort to re-unite the Union, but ultimately, worked to keep European powers out of the fray. In 1867, he succeeded in the purchase of the Alaskan territories (hereinafter called Seward's ice Box, or Seward's folly), In his eight years in office, Seward successfully negotiated more treaties with foreign nations than had all of his predecessors combined.