Seymour was born on May 31, 1810 in Pompey, New York. His father, Henry Seymour, who removed from Connecticut to New York, was prominent in the Democratic party in the state, being a member of the "Albany Regency" and serving as state senator in 1816-1819 and in 1822, and as canal commissioner in 1819-1831. Seymour's mother, Mary Ledyard Forman (1785–1859), of Matawan, New Jersey, was the daughter of General Benjamin Forman and Mary Ledyard.
Seymour was educated at Oxford and Geneva (later Hobart College) academies and at a military academy in Middletown, Connecticut. In 1826 he returned to Utica to study law, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and was secretary to Governor William L. Marcy, 1833-1839.
When William H. Seward became governor of New York in 1839, Seymour returned to Utica.
He returned to the assembly in 1844 and 1845, where he made a "Report of the Committee on Canals. "
The Erie Canal was a Seymour tradition, and he promoted a scheme to link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi. Seymour, between 1848 and 1850, worked to effect a compromise between the split New York Democrats, who were divided into "Barnburners" and "Hunkers. " The former supported Van Buren.
Seymour disliked abolitionists and Southern extremists and felt that slavery was doomed as a result of the influx of free labor, particularly European immigrants.
After the Democratic split in 1848 he received the first of six nominations for governor of New York in 1850, but did not win until two years later.
As governor he made an enviable record, devoting considerable time to the improvement of the state's penal system.
He was unwavering in his opposition to anti-Catholicism and prohibition.
During the New York draft riots, in July 1863, Seymour hastened home from New Jersey and restored order.
His address to a crowd at City Hall caused Horace Greeley to denounce him as a "Copperhead. "
In 1864 Seymour urged the Democrats to nominate a civilian but supported General George B. McClellan when he was chosen.
He helped Samuel J. Tilden drive William M. Tweed from power and reform Tammany Hall.
He opposed seating President Rutherford B. Hayes after the election of 1876, supported Senator Winfield Scott Hancock for president in 1880, and saw his protégé, protege, Grover Cleveland, elected in 1884.
He was an American merchant, banker and politician from New York.
Governor
