Though Abraham Lincoln took center stage in a divided country, a political rival-turned-ally had a major influence on national affairs during Lincoln's presidency. William Henry Seward, U.S. senator and former governor, lost the Republican Party nomination for president in 1860, but aided Lincoln's election by touring the country on behalf of the Republican ticket. As some Southern states prepared to withdraw from the Union, Secretary of State Seward sought to reunite the country. This biography explores Seward's political power and the theory that, as president, he might have prevented the Civil War.

William Henry Seward and the Secession Crisis: The Effort to Prevent Civil War

Biographies & Memoirs

Denton, Lawrence M.

Historical

McFarland Company

Maryland did not freely choose to remain in the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, this book argues: the state was held by brute force. A colorful account of the dilemmas faced by Marylanders in the crisis as seen from the Southern point of view.

A Southern Star for Maryland: Maryland and the Secession Crisis

History

Americas

Chesapeake Book Company

Whether the Civil War was preventable is a debate that began shortly after Appomattox and continues today. But even earlier, in 1861, a group of Union-loyal Virginians--led by George Summers, John Brown Baldwin, John Janney and Jubal Early--felt war was avoidable. In the statewide election for delegates to the Secession Convention that same spring, the Unionists defeated the Southern Rights Democrats with a huge majority of the votes across the state. These heroic men unsuccessfully negotiated with Secretary of State William Henry Seward to prevent the national tragedy that would ensue. Author and historian Lawrence M. Denton traces this remarkable story of Virginians working against all odds in a failed attempt to save a nation from war.

Unionists in Virginia: Politics, Secession and Their Plan to Prevent Civil War

History Press Library Editions

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Books by Denton, Lawrence M.