NOTES FOR CHAPTER 25
| Edward Coles |
Reminiscence of Thomas Lippincott--in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, vol. 3, no. 4 (January 1911) 16. Back The result of the convention vote--Theodore Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848 (Illinois Historical Collections, XVIII, Springfield, 1923), p. 27. The election results for the Presidential election also come from this source. Washburne gives slightly different figures: for-4950, against-6827 (in Clarence Alvord, Governor Edward Coles, Illinois Historical Society Library, 1920, p. 156). The Republican Advocate (Sept. 7, 1824) says: for-4557, against-6806. Back What happened to the issue of slavery in Illinois?--For a more thorough discussion of the question, see Merton Lynn Dillon, "The Anti-Slavery Movement in Illinois: 1824-1835," in The Old Northwest: Studies in Regional History, 1787-1910, ed. Harry Schreiber, Lincoln, NE, 1969. See also Max Gordon, The Slavery Conflict on the Illinois Frontier, M.A. Thesis, Columbia University, 1961, pp. 126-127 for a discussion of the survival of indentured servitude until 1845 and of the Black Codes until 1865. Back We have many avowed friends of freedom--Edward Coles to Roberts Vaux, Jan. 21, 1824, in Alvord, pp. 166-170. Back. The voters showed their political independence--The 1863 autobiography says that in 1824 a new assembly was elected--this time--as stated above the people voted against the convention, and also an assembly was elected favorable to the side of the Governor--and for the next two years here there was but little opposition to the acts of the Governor. Perhaps Coles had this memory because the 1824 legislature was so much less hostile than the legislature of 1822. But there was clearly more than "but little opposition to the acts of the Governor." The failure of the legislature to confirm Birkbeck as secretary of state and to act on any of Coles' recommendations to ameliorate the conditions of blacks are two obvious cases in point. Back Crawford drew his support in Illinois mainly from the conventionists--Pease, p. xxvi. Back My political chafings--Edward Coles to Andrew Stevenson, April 7, 1824, Princeton University Library. Back In 1826 Cook may have paid for his support of Adams--Joseph E. Burns, "Daniel P. Cook," Illinois State Historical Society Journal, VI (Oct. 1913), 425-426. See also Theodore Pease, The Frontier State, Springfield, Illinois, 1918, pp. 107-108. Back Jackson swept the popular vote--Pease, The Frontier State, p. 123. Back The entire trial--The suit was scheduled for Sept. 21. On Sept. 22 Coles wrote to Birkbeck of the final verdict (in Alvord, pp. 158-159). In a letter to his niece Sarah Carter, Coles says that he fell ill on Sept. 23, directly after his trial (Edward Coles to Sarah Carter, Dec. 31, 1824, University of Virginia Library). Back The new board of commissioners--W. T. Norton, Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People, Chicago, 1912, p. 141. Back Benjamin Stedman--Ibid., p. 101. Back The jury empaneled to hear the case--Ibid., p. 161. See also Alvord, p. 208, where John Howard signs the verdict as the jury foreman. Back Coles had Cook and Emanuel West--Alvord, p. 209. Back These cases were allowed to drag heavily--According to Norton, there were three cases of kidnapping during the Sept. 1824 term of the court, and all were disposed of by heavy fines, to wit: $600 and various and diverse "lashes well laid on," ordered and decreed (p. 162). It is of course possible that the kidnapping cases referred to by Coles in his 1844 autobiography were not disposed of during the Sept. term and therefore do not appear in Norton's history. It is also possible, however, that Coles never learned of their disposition. Back Coles appealed immediately--The text of the appeal is in Alvord, pp. 209-210. My account here is taken from Alvord, pp. 165-166 and the 1827 autobiography. Back Nathaniel Buckmaster--Identified in Norton, p. 141. Back to Coles' chagrin--Edward Coles to Abraham Cowles, Aug. 16, 1826, in Alvord, pp. 180-181. Back and the long nightmare was over--Alvord (p. 213) dates the supreme court opinion to June 1826, but on Feb. 2, 1827, George Forquer, Coles' secretary of state, wrote to Coles in Virginia, Your cause from Madison [County] has been decided in your favor (Princeton University Library). In a letter to Thomas Sloo, Jr. dated Feb. 15, 1827 (in Alvord, p. 289), before Coles would have received Forquer's letter, Coles writes, I am very anxious to hear the results of my suit before the Supreme Court, indicating that the opinion was not made public until late January or early February 1827. Back You have both well fulfilled your parts--Edward Coles to Robert and Kate Crawford, Feb. 7, 1837, Princeton University Library. In the same letter, Coles writes, You say nothing in your letter about my Farm near you, which I left in your care. And in a letter to an unknown correspondent, perhaps Robert Wash, Coles writes, Tell Robert I shall rely on his keeping a good Tenant on my place and preventing the timber and other things from being destroyed and collecting and paying the rent to you (April 20, 1841, New York Public Library). In the 1827 autobiography Coles says that two families of his former slaves had just purchased eighty acres each near his farm. Back the last letter extant by Coles--Edward Coles to Robert Crawford, Dec. 22, 1862, Roberts Coles Collection. Back I have long been satisfied--Edward Coles to J. R. Poinsett, March 15, 1851, William and Mary Quarterly, ser. 2, vol. 7 (1927) 107-108. Back a letter from Robert Wash to Edward Coles--Robert Wash to Edward Coles, March 25, 1834, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Back a slip of paper--in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Back a letter from Robert and Kate Crawford--Robert and Kate Crawford to Edward Coles, October 23, 1840, Princeton University Library. Back the Crawford family seems to have moved--Norton, p. 596. Back seeing no hope of just treatment--George Flower, History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Chicago Historical Society Collections, Chicago, 1882, vol. 1, pp. 264-273. See also the Illinois Gazette, Nov. 23, 1822 and August 7, 1824. Back I came to Vandalia--Alvord, p. 160. See also Flower, p. 247. Back seeing Bradford could not gain the shore--Margaret Fuller, preface to Morris Birkbeck's "An Appeal to the People of Illinois on the Question of a Convention," The Magazine of History, no. 131 (1927) 119. See also Flower, pp. 255-256. Back Elias Kent Kane--Barbara Burn Hubbs, "Elias Kent Kane," in Idols of Egypt, ed. Will Griffith, Carbondale, 1947, pp. 79-92. Back Notwithstanding many expostulations--Lafayette to Edward Coles, April 12, 1825, in Alvord, p. 188. The details of Lafayette's visit, including the quote from Washburne, are from the same page in Alvord. See also the 1863 autobiography for Coles' brief description of the event. Back He left for Virginia July 18--According to the Almanac Dates, Coles arrived in Virginia on July 31, remaining ten days, then leaving for "the North." According to the letter to Vaux cited below, he met Vaux in Philadelphia--the first time he had seen his secret partner--returning to Virginia on Sept. 22 and leaving for Illinois on Oct. 12. Nothing else is known about this trip except that on Oct. 27 a Rensselaer wrote to Coles (Princeton University Library) in Albany under the erroneous assumption that Coles was still there, indicating that at some point in his trip Coles had gone to Albany, perhaps on a visit to the nearby Saratoga Springs. Back There have been--Edward Coles to Roberts Vaux, Feb. 8, 1826, in Alvord, pp. 178-180. The description of the incident is taken from this letter and from Alvord, pp. 175-177. Back his mother had died on April 11, 1826--Almanac Dates, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The Almanac Dates record the distribution of property on Jan. 1 and transfers of property from brother to brother on Jan. 27, 1827. In a letter to Thomas Sloo, Jr. on Feb. 15, 1827 (in Alvord, p. 289), Coles says that his mother's estate will not be finally settled until April, after which he will return directly to Illinois. Back Of course, the continuance of--Alvord, p. 387. Back In the observations I had the honour to make to the last legislature--Ibid., p. 270. Back On two former occasions--Ibid., pp. 281-282. All of the quotes from the valedictory address are from this source. Back
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