Preludes to Civil War; Accomplishements of individuals
Preludes to the Civil War: William Henry Seward
Selection from “On the Dangers of Extending Slavery” speech by W. H. Seward, delivered Oct. 12, 1855 at Albany
Seward c. 1846, when he defended a black man who had murdered a white family on the basis of insanity, one of the first uses of this defense.
William Henry Seward was born and grew up in the village of Florida, NY.  He was an ardent abolitionist.  He went on to be Lincoln’s Secretary of State, and also engineered the purchase of Alaska. “Seward Day” is celebrated in that state every year.
The Underground Railroad ran through Warwick
William Henry Seward was born in 1801 in Florida, Orange County, New York. He was the fourth of six children born to Samuel S. and Mary J. Seward. After attending schools in Florida and Goshen, he attended Union College in Schenectady, graduating in 1820. In 1819, on a teaching sojourn to Georgia, the indignity of slavery first made an impression on him and later influenced him to become one of the most outspoken anti-slavery politicians of the time.

See biography on Seward House (Albany) website:
http://www.sewardhouse.org/biography/