Both were experienced in political matters and both stood high in the esteem of the anti-slavery element in the North, but Seward, all things considered, was regarded as the logical leading member of the Cabinet.
He had been the favoured candidate for Republican Presidential nomination in 1860, making way for Lincoln only on the theory that the latter as less Radical on anti-slavery, could be more easily elected.
Also, he now held that position which by American tradition was regarded as the highest in the Cabinet.
In fact, everyone at Washington regarded it as certain that Seward would determine the policy of the new administration.

Seward's own attitude is well summed up in a despatch to his Government, February 18, 1861, by Rudolph Schleiden, Minister from the Republic of Bremen.

He described a conversation with Seward in regard to his relations with Lincoln: "Seward, however, consoled himself with the clever remark, that there is no great difference between an elected president of the United States and an hereditary monarch.

The latter is called to the throne through the accident of birth, the former through the chances which make his election possible.

The actual direction of public affairs belongs to the leader of the ruling party, here as well as in any hereditary principality.
"The future President is a self-made man and there is therefore as little doubt of his energy as of his proverbial honesty ('honest old Abe').