Edward Coles

(1786-1868)

Governor of Illinois

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Edward Coles (December 15, 1786 – July 7, 1868) was the second Governor of Illinois (1822 to 1826). From an old Virginia family, as a young man Coles was a neighbor and associate of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, as well as secretary to president James Madison (1810 to 1815). An anti-slavery advocate throughout his adult life, Coles inherited a plantation and slaves but eventually left Virginia for the Illinois Territory in order to set his slaves free. He manumitted his slaves in 1819, and twice led political campaigns that prevented the legitimization of slavery in the new state of Illinois. Coles corresponded with and advised both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to free their slaves, and in his final years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania helped shape early historians' views of the presidents' republican ideals.