SEYMOUR, HORATIO (1810-1886), American states man, was born in Pompey, Onondaga county (N.Y.), on May 31, 181o. He studied at Geneva academy (afterwards Hobart college) and at a military school in Middletown (Conn.), and was admitted to the bar in 1832. He was military secretary to Governor W. L. Marcy in 1833-39, was a member of the New York Assembly in 1842, in 1844, and in 1845, and was speaker in 1845; mayor of Utica in 1843, and in 1852 was elected governor of New York State. He vetoed in 1854 a bill prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, which was declared unconstitutional almost immediately after its re-enactment in 1855, and in consequence he was defeated in 1854 for re-election as governor. Seymour was a Conservative on national issues, and supported the administrations of Pierce and Buchanan; he advocated compromise to avoid seces sion in 186o-61; but when war started he supported the Union. In 1863-65 he was again governor of New York State.
His opposition to President Lincoln's policy was mainly in re spect to emancipation, military arrests and conscription. Although
he responded immediately to the call for militia in June, he thought the Conscription Act unnecessary and unconstitutional and urged the President to postpone the draft until its legality could be tested. During the draft riots in July he proclaimed the city and county of New York in a state of insurrection, but in a speech to the rioters adopted a tone of conciliation—a political error which injured his career. He was defeated as Democratic candidate for governor in 1864. In 1868 he was nominated presi dential candidate by the Democratic national convention, but carried only eight States (including New York, New Jersey, and Oregon), and received only 8o electoral votes to 254 for Grant. He died on Feb. 12, 1886, in Utica.
The Public Record of Horatio Seymour (1868) includes his speeches and official papers between 1856 and 1868.