Edward Coles

Edward Coles

Edward Coles (born December 15, 1786 in Albemarle County , Virginia , † July 7, 1868 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an American politician ( Democratic Republican Party ) and from 1822 to 1826 the second governor of the state of Illinois .

Early years

Edward Coles, who came from a wealthy, slave-owning planter family, received private schooling and later attended Hampden-Sydney College and the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg . His political career began in 1809 when he became one of the private secretaries of US President James Madison . He held this position for six years before the President sent him on a diplomatic mission to the court of Tsar Alexander I in Saint Petersburg . Two years later he returned to America. He moved with his family to Edwardsville, Illinois, and served as head of the land allotment agency until 1823. At that time he freed the slaves inherited from his father because he did not believe in slavery , but in the principle of equality for all people.

He bequeathed a piece of land to every former slave family. The subject of slavery was highly controversial across the United States in those days. The question was whether slavery should be allowed or banned in the new US states. The 1820 Missouri Compromise that Senator Henry Clay had worked out resolved the problem nationally for the next 30 years. Illinois had been admitted to the Union two years before this compromise and now the question of slavery was hotly debated. Against this background, the gubernatorial elections in Illinois took place in 1822. Coles ran as an opponent of slavery and managed a narrow election victory.

Illinois Governor

Edward Cole's four-year term began on December 5, 1822. During this time, he managed to enforce the ban on slavery in Illinois with the help of a referendum. This measure was flanked by some laws to protect African Americans against racist attacks. With this resolution in Illinois, the state sided with the north in the decades that followed, both before the Civil War and during the war. Other events in Coles' tenure included the introduction of a school tax in 1825 and a run on the lead mines at Galena in 1823. Eventually, the state's judicial system was reorganized.

Due to a constitutional clause, Coles could not be directly re-elected in 1826. In 1831 he made an unsuccessful attempt to be elected to the US House of Representatives . He then retired to his farm. Coles saw the tumultuous development of the American nation before the Civil War and the war itself before he died in Philadelphia in 1868. He was married to Sally Logan Roberts and the couple had three children.

Since 1839 he was an elected member of the American Philosophical Society .

Web links

• Edward Coles in the National Governors Association (English)
• The Governors of Illinois ( February 7, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive )
• Edward Coles in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member History: Edward Coles. American Philosophical Society, accessed June 24, 2018 .