The Sewards of New York

The Sewards of New York shines a light on one of the most important and fascinating political families of the nineteenth century. Through recently discovered family correspondence, Thomas P. Slaughter unveils the inner lives of the Seward family, tracing their joys and sorrows as the nation grappled with rapid expansion and deepening divisions on its path to the Civil War.

William Henry Seward, the family's most prominent member, was a state senator, governor, US senator, and secretary of state. Henry, as his family knew him, was often absent from their Auburn, NY, home, in Albany or Washington, DC, and so remained connected to the family through the long letters numbering in the thousands that they exchanged. These writings reveal Henry as a son, brother, husband, and father, as much as they show him as a politician and statesman. But it is his wife, Frances, who is the hub around which this family story revolves. Slaughter explores the extended Auburn family during a half century of profound change in American homes, marriage, and childrearing.

With an eye for the provocative and revealing, Slaughter takes us behind the curtain of the early Victorian era's private sphere. He, and the Sewards in their own words, portray life as it was lived by the influential and powerful, but also by many who lived more private lives that are now lost to us. The Sewards of New York paints a rich portrait of an extraordinary family that played a key role in nineteenth-century New York and national politics.

Thomas P. Slaughter is the Arthur R. Miller Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Rochester. He is the author of Independence, Exploring Lewis and Clark, and The Whiskey Rebellion.

In this intimate history of an important political family, Slaughter explores how William Henry Seward and his wife Frances navigated marriage, parenting, extended families, and their private and public obligations in a period when expectations for women and men were changing. This is a remarkable portrait of a family that was both very ordinary and yet extraordinary.

Michael Zuckerman, author of Almost Chosen People:

Thomas P. Slaughter shares a story we think we know, turned inside out. This life of one of our greatest political leaders is a familial story of the generations, and especially the women, of Seward's life—and of the Seward house itself.

Harold Holzer, author of Lincoln and the Power of the Press:

Public-spirited men like Lincoln's secretary of state, William H. Seward, often had to choose between the private and political; in Seward's case, home lost decisively. But his frequent absences stimulated decades of robust correspondence and Slaughter has expertly mined this neglected trove to weave a rich portrait of a fascinating household, especially its often-undervalued women.