William H. Seward Quotes

William H. Seward — American Statesman born on May 16, 1801, died on October 10, 1872

William Henry Seward was United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and also served as Governor of New York and United States Senator. A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a dominant figure in the Republican Party in its formative years. Although regarded as the leading contender for the party's presidential nomination in 1860, he was defeated by Abraham Lincoln... (wikipedia)

If slavery, limited as it yet is, now threatens to subvert the Constitution, how can we as wise and prudent statesmen, enlarge its boundaries and increase its influence, and thus increase already impending dangers?

There is not only no free state which would now establish it, but there is no slave state, which, if it had had the free alternative as we now have, would have founded slavery.

Therefore, states are equal in natural rights.

There is a higher law than the Constitution.

Sir, there is no Christian nation, thus free to choose as we are, which would establish slavery.