Horatio Seymour

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This article is about the 19th century New York Senator and Presidential candidate. For the Vermont Senator, see Horatio Seymour (Vermont).

Horatio Seymour

20^th & 24^th Governor of New York
In office 1853 – 1854 1863 – 1864
Lieutenant(s)	Sanford E. Church David R. Floyd-Jones
Preceded by	Washington Hunt Edwin D. Morgan
Succeeded by	Myron H. Clark Reuben Fenton

Born	May 31, 1810 Pompey Hill, New York, USA
Died	February 12, 1886 New York, USA
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Mary Bleecker Seymour
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Horatio Seymour (May 31, 1810 – February 12, 1886) was an American politician. He was Governor of New York State from 1853-1854 and from 1863-1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in the U.S. Presidential election of 1868, but lost the election to Republican Ulysses S. Grant.

Horatio Seymour at home

Horatio Seymour was born in Pompey Hill, Onondaga County, New York, educated at Geneva Academy (later Hobart College) and at Middletown (Conn) Military Academy, studied law at Utica, and in 1832 was admitted to the bar. He served as mayor of Utica, New York from 1842 to 1843.

He served as Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and again from 1863 to 1864. During his second tenure as governor, he became a leading Northern opponent of President Abraham Lincoln's administration during the American Civil War. Seymour protested Lincoln's restriction of civil liberties, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Union's military draft. He advocated the vigorous prosecution of the war, but protested against Lincoln's extensive use of executive war powers.

In 1868 he was president of the Democratic National Convention which met in New York City, and received its presidential nomination. He received 80 electoral votes against 214 for Grant.

After this he took no further part in political affairs. He died in 1886 and was interned in Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica, New York with his wife Mary Bleecker Seymour.

[edit] References

Croly, David Goodman. Seymour and Blair: Their lives and Services, (New York, 1868)
Hartley, Horatio Seymour, (Utica, 1886)
McCabe, James Dabney. The Life and Public Services of Horatio Seymour (1868) online edition

[edit] External links

Mr. Lincoln and New York: Horatio Seymour
First Edition 1862 Report on Horatio Seymour Winning New York Governor's Race.

Preceded by Washington Hunt	Governor of New York 1853–1854	Succeeded by Myron H. Clark
Preceded by Edwin D. Morgan	Governor of New York 1863–1864	Succeeded by Reuben E. Fenton
Preceded by George B. McClellan	Democratic Party presidential nominee 1868 (lost)	Succeeded by Horace Greeley