Crusade Against Slavery: Edward Coles, Pioneer of Freedom

6. Contest and Convention

92 6 Contest and Convention O n 30 October 1821, the Edwardsville (Illinois) Spectator announced, “Edward Coles . . . in compliance with the wishes of his friends” would be a candidate for governor in the upcoming election.1 Six months previous, friends had encouraged him to run.2 Although equivocation had marked his drawn-out decision to emigrate to Illinois, and self-doubt caused him initially to reject Madison’s offer for employment in the White House, neither indecision nor self-doubt impeded this surprise announcement. For Edward Coles, this decision showed clarity of purpose and direction; seemingly, this was a new feature in his personal landscape. The election would be held on the first Monday of August 1822. There was no need to wait for the incumbent, Shadrach Bond, to declare. The Illinois Constitution imposed the limit of a single term on its governor, so Governor Bond would not be running. The race for governor had begun when Chief Justice Joseph Phillips announced his candidacy in February 1821, fully a year and a half before the election.3 Phillips, Tennessee-born and proslavery, had been territorial secretary from 1816 to 1818. Edward Coles was the next to enter the gubernatorial political pool. Initially, he made scarcely a ripple. His problem was that as popular as he was inside Madison County and in the few counties making up the American Bottom, few people farther afield knew of him.4 It is a testament to the fluid nature of western politics of the time that an immigrant from Virginia, only a few years at his adopted new home, might make a serious run for high office.5 CONTEST AND CONVENTION 93 In March 1822, a third contender entered the election. Like Coles, James B. Moore of Monroe County was unknown to a large portion of Illinois voters.6 He was homegrown and could point to his exploits as a general defending Illinois settlers against Indians in the War of 1812.By the summer of 1822, the strongest statewide faction (headed by former territorial governor Ninian Edwards) had not yet fielded a candidate. Personal factions were all in frontier Illinois politics. No parties, no cohesive machinery dictated the orderly nomination of candidates, rather, power was gathered in loyal pockets of support around men. The state waited for Edwards to declare, yet Edwards did not enter, and his bloc was slow to offer up an alternative candidate. With only three months left, Thomas Browne, a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, entered the contest under the Edwards banner.7 Like Moore, Browne showed little interest in the issues or in campaigning. In the letter announcing his candidacy, Browne took safe positions: he favored expansion of education and business. Shortly after Coles announced his candidacy, the Edwardsville (Illinois) Spectator claimed Coles had not settled in Illinois until 1820 (fully a year after his appointment as register of lands). A writer penning under the name “Justice” immediately challenged the Spectator, claiming that Coles had visited Illinois in 1815and had vowed to make the state his residence. This, “Justice” argued, should be considered the date of Coles’s residence. “Justice” further pointed out that papers documenting Coles’s appointment as register of lands expressly stated that Coles was “of Illinois.”8 Hooper Warren, editor of the Edwardsville (Illinois) Spectator, agreed that Coles had been in the state in 181 5, but since Coles had not stayed, he could not be considered a resident. Warren admitted that Coles had come to Illinois and remained for an extended period of time before 1820. Still, Coles’s activities appeared suspicious—buying large amounts of land, long absences in spite of broadcasting his intent to settle there, his actual settlement coinciding with a political appointment. To Warren, Coles was either a nonresident speculator or an opportunist (or maybe both).9 Coles had no real defense against Warren’s attack. Coles asked for forbearance on the matter of his short residency.10 In December 1821, Coles set out on a tour of southern Illinois to make himself better known.11 He made a second tour a few months later. This second time, the Edwardsville Spectator printed a satirical sendoff: PART TWO 94 Yesterday departed from this place, on a political cruise, the new flat-bottomed boat Edward Coles. It is said she will touch Vandalia , to take on an additional supply of whisky and gingerbread, a description of ammunition essentially necessary...