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Preferred Citation:

Edward Coles Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Acquisition Information:

Gift: 30 items.

Biographical Information:

Edward Coles was born in Albemarle County, Va. 15 December 1786. He attended Hampden-Sydney College and the College of William and Mary. He was private secretary to James Madison. He emancipated persons enslaved by him upon his removal to Illinois. Coles was elected governor of Illinois. He moved to Philadelphia and died in 1868.

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/coles-edward-1786-1868/

Edward Coles was the second governor of Illinois (1822–1826) and a lifelong opponent of enslavement. Born in Albemarle County, he inherited a dozen of enslaved persons from his father and, against his family's wishes, decided to free them. But Coles was forced to delay his plans because of financial, moral, and practical difficulties. He served as secretary to U.S. president James Madison (1810–1815), traveling to the Northeast on behalf of the president in 1811 and acting as a special envoy to Russia in 1816. In 1814, Coles exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson, encouraging the former president to support the gradual emancipation of enslaved persons, but Jefferson refused. In 1817, Coles sold his Rockfish plantation to his brother and moved seventeen of persons enslaved by him to Illinois, freeing them along the way. As governor of Illinois, he helped defeat a referendum aimed at calling a pro-slavery constitutional convention. He later moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he corresponded with Jefferson's grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, convincing him to oppose slavery in the General Assembly's debate of the issue in 1831. Coles also encouraged Madison to free persons enslaved by him in his will, but the former president did not. He married Sally Logan Roberts in 1833 and the couple had three children. Coles died in Philadelphia in 1868.

Scope and Contents

Typescript copies of letters and extracts, written by Edward Coles (1786-1868), who held the positions of secretary to President James Madison and Governor of Illinois. Subjects covered by the letters include James Madison and the War of 1812; Madison's not emancipating persons enslaved by him at his death; the claiming of public lands by individual states; the estate of James Monroe; Andrew Jackson; Thomas Jefferson's authorship of the Ordinance of 1787; and Jefferson's relationship with John Adams. Typescripts of letters written by Edward Coles to Nicholas Biddle, Joseph C. Cabell, Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson, Dolley Madison, James Madison, Joel R. Poinsett, Henry S. Randall, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, William Cabell Rives, Charles Sumner, Martin Van Buren and Robert C. Winthrop, among other correspondents.

Arrangement of Materials:

This collection is arranged chronologically by date.

Related Material

These letters are in typescript form, meaning that they are typed copies made from contemporary copies. All these letters have been printed/published in the William and Mary College Quarterly, 2nd Series, v.7, pp. 32-41, 97-113, 158-173.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Adams, John, 1735-1826
• Anti-slavery movements
• Buckingham County (Va.)--History
• Cabell, Joseph C. (Joseph Carrington), 1778-1856
• Cabell, Joseph C. (Joseph Carrington), 1778-1856
• Clay, Henry, 1777-1852
• Gallatin, Albert (1761-1849)
• Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845
• Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
• Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
• Madison, Dolley P., 1768-1849
• Madison, James, 1751-1836
• Madison, James, Jr., 1751-1836
• Ordinance of 1787.
• Rives, William C. (William Cabell), 1793-1868
• Rives, William C. (William Cabell), 1793-1868
• Typescripts
• United States--History--War of 1812
• United States--Politics and Government