Governor Edward Coles

This volume consists of two parts: Part 1: Washburne, E. B. “Sketch of Edward Coles, Second Governor of Illinois, and of the Slavery Struggle of 1823-4″, pp 15-201. Edward Coles was a Virginia slave-owner and the private secretary to President Madison in 1814 when he began a correspondence with Thomas Jefferson on the subject of slavery. Coles decided to resign his position, sell his plantation, leave Virginia, and then liberate his slaves. He moved to Illinois in 1819 with his slaves and liberated them there. After becoming governor in 1822, his efforts were critical in preventing Illinois from legalizing slavery in the state constitution. Part 2: Appendix. pp 205-398. This is a collection of transcribed documents and letters; many of them related to personal business or legal actions involving Coles, but also including some official documents from his governorship. The last document in this section, pp 376-398, is Coles’ “History of the Ordinance of 1787″.