21st Century: Query 180 (William H. Seward)
“There is a higher law than the Constitution.” ~ William H. Seward was United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and United States Senator. A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War , he was a prominent figure in the Republican Party in its formative years , and was praised for his work on behalf of the Union as Secretary of State during the Civil War. Seward was also responsible for the Alaska Purchase , known more commonly as “Seward’s Folly.” When might Seward’s assertion be true? False? When might “a higher law” be congruent with Democracy? When might “a higher law” be dangerous for a Democracy?