From what I'm reading in the book, it isn't slavery. Slavery rarely comes up. Its a source of irritation from the North. Seward is in Virginia at a dinner party. He is asked about what will happen with the issue of slavery now that Lincoln is elected. Seward laughs out loud and says the issue is slavery was only a vote getter, they had no intention of changing the status quo on that issue.

The biggest concerns of the day was trade, tariffs, and...get this...patents. The issue of how the South will acknowledge patents takes up a good percentage of the concerns in the white house in Jan-Mar 1861.

David