How could Seward have won the Republican nomination?

Lincoln not having the advantage of the Convention being on his Illinois home-ground might be a good start. That is one of the main reasons why Lincoln won.

Seward was a well-known die-hard abolitionist though. If anything you may have possibly had states like Kentucky, Missouri and maybe even Maryland/Delaware secede as well - possibly doubtful on the latter. And i mean this is the man who said going to war against Great Britain could re-unite the Union.....

That said though he was also a rabid expansionist and a die-hard believer in the Monroe Doctrine.
 
Sever all connections with Thurlow Weed? Many considered- & I think, with justification- Weed to be a pretty shady character. * That he seemed to be Seward’s right-hand man was used against him, with great effectiveness, by his opponents. Of course I have to add that I doubt this would have been enough to secure the nomination for Seward- he had too many strikes against him- but heck, it couldn’t have hurt.

*- Earlier that year Weed pushed through the NY legislature six NYC street-railway bills
which allowed many miles of track to be laid
w/o any conditions re compensation, tenure,
or fares. Seward’s opponents charged that the purpose of these bills was to get the franchise receipents to furnish $ for the G.O.P. in the Presidental election. Sound familiar?
 
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