•February 28, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

On this 200th anniversary year of statehood for Illinois, I will, now and then, profile Illinoisans who played key roles in shaping our state, but whom most readers probably don’t know.

Edward Coles was a Virginia patrician with a strong sense of noblesse oblige. He served in the White House for six years as James Madison’s personal secretary and later led the first mission on a US warship into the Baltic Sea, where he successfully smoothed over a diplomatic problem with the Czar.

Yet Coles was drawn to Illinois. Before reaching our state in 1819, he freed his inherited slaves. In the Prairie State, Coles developed a big farm near Edwardsville.

Elected governor with one-third of the vote in 1822 in a multi-candidate race, Coles faced a pro-slavery legislature.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.