# William Seward William Henry Seward (1801–1872) was Secretary of State under both [[Abraham Lincoln]] and [[Andrew Johnson]]. A leading antislavery politician before the war, he survived a near-fatal stabbing on the night of Lincoln's assassination (part of the same conspiracy) and went on to negotiate the 1867 **Alaska Purchase** ("Seward's Folly") during the Johnson administration. > Status: **stub** — expand Seward's Senate career, the assassination-night attack, and the Alaska Purchase. ## See Also - [[Abraham Lincoln]] - [[Andrew Johnson]] - [[Lincoln Assassination]]