57 Facts About Ninian Edwards

Ninian Edwards was a founding political figure of the State of Illinois.

Ninian Edwards served as the first and only governor of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to until the territory was dissolved in 1818.

Ninian Edwards was then one of the first two United States senators from the State of Illinois from 1818 to 1824, and the third Governor of Illinois from 1826 to 1830.

Ninian Edwards rose to the position of Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1808, at the time Kentucky's highest court.

Ninian Edwards held that post for three terms, overseeing the territory's transition first to democratic "second grade" government, and then to statehood in 1818.

Ninian Edwards won an unlikely 1826 election to become Governor of Illinois.

Ninian Edwards returned to private life when his term ended in 1830 and died of cholera two years later.

Ninian Edwards was born in 1775 to the prominent Edwards family in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Ninian Edwards was educated by private tutors, one of whom was the future US Attorney General William Wirt.

Ninian Edwards attended Dickinson College from 1790 to 1792 but did not graduate, leaving college to study law.

In 1794, at the age of 19, Ninian Edwards moved to Nelson County, Kentucky to manage some family land.

Ninian Edwards showed a great aptitude for business and leadership and was elected to a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives, before he was even eligible to vote.

Ninian Edwards joined the high court in 1806 and won the leadership position in 1808.

Ninian Edwards consciously positioned himself in the select class of men who dominated Kentucky and, later, Illinois politics.

In 1803 in Russellville, Ninian Edwards married Elvira Lane, a relative from Maryland.

Ninian Edwards settled in the American Bottom on land he received as a grant upon his appointment as governor.

Ninian Edwards named his new farm Elvirade, after his wife.

At first Ninian Edwards tried to avoid partisanship but soon found that faction was an inevitable result of his power to appoint officials and distribute government jobs.

Ninian Edwards attempted to do the same for militia officers for a time, letting the men of a unit elect their leaders, but he soon abandoned this policy as impractical.

In 1812, Ninian Edwards successfully persuaded Congress to modify a provision of the 1787 Ordinance limiting voting rights to freeholders of 50 acres of land.

At Ninian Edwards' urging, Congress granted the Illinois Territory universal white male suffrage, making it the most democratic US territory at the time.

Ninian Edwards had not been governor long when Illinois became the scene of fighting during the War of 1812.

Ninian Edwards opened fire on the group when they approached too closely.

Governor Ninian Edwards spent considerable time at the fort, and while he was the commander-in-chief of the militia, he had very little military expertise or Native American knowledge.

Ninian Edwards lacked assistance from outside the territory and instead relied on his own resources.

Ninian Edwards estimated there were no more than 2,000 adult white males between the Mississippi and Wabash Rivers, while there were more than 1,000 Native tribesmen able to assemble at Peoria in a matter of days.

Ninian Edwards was divided into two smaller regiments, one commanded by Stephenson acting as Colonel, the other by a Rector brother.

Ninian Edwards inflicted a devastating defeat to the Native American village.

Ninian Edwards' army seized eighty horses, some recently stolen from Saint Clair County, silver ornaments, 200 brass kettles, guns, and six scalps believed to belong to the women and children of the settler O'Neal family from Missouri.

Ninian Edwards estimated that approximately thirty Native peoples were killed in the raid, although later estimates from the Kickapoo suggested the number was closer to eighty.

Ninian Edwards' actions alienated those Native Americans friendly to the US in the region.

Ninian Edwards, having lost the confidence of the Madison administration, waited out the war in Kentucky.

In December 1817, Ninian Edwards, responding to a movement for statehood led by his ally Daniel Pope Cook, recommended to the legislature that Illinois apply for admission to the Union.

Ninian Edwards recommended that a census first be taken of the territory, a standard practice, but the legislature rejected this.

Governor Ninian Edwards issued his only veto to send the bill back to the legislature, and it was never revised.

Ninian Edwards made his objections on constitutional grounds, but he had a conflict of interest as the owner of several enslaved people himself.

Ninian Edwards was quickly chosen on the first ballot; his rival Thomas was only elected after the fourth.

Ninian Edwards voted for the Missouri Compromise in 1820, a bill that Thomas sponsored.

Ninian Edwards voted against a law reducing prices for federal land, which made both Edwards and Representative Daniel Pope Cook targets of criticism at home.

Ninian Edwards found that none of Crawford's rivals was willing to support his charges, and he was unable to produce corroborating evidence.

Ninian Edwards resigned his Senate seat on March 4,1824, to take a job he wanted as the first United States Minister to Mexico.

Unable to substantiate his claims, Ninian Edwards resigned his diplomatic post, to be replaced by Joel Roberts Poinsett.

Back in Illinois, Ninian Edwards settled in Belleville, a town whose site he had once owned before selling off its lots at a profit.

When he returned to Illinois, Ninian Edwards appeared to be a discredited politician.

Ninian Edwards never criticized Jackson, but as an Adams-Clay Republican Senator he was not part of Jackson's growing coalition.

Jacksonians deeply resented Ninian Edwards' ally Cook, who had voted against Jackson when the presidential election of 1824 was decided in the House of Representatives.

However, when he ran for governor in 1826, Ninian Edwards had the good fortune to enter a three-way race that split the Jacksonians between state Senator Thomas Sloo and Lieutenant Governor Adolphus Hubbard.

Ninian Edwards' administration was hampered by his conflict with the legislature, primarily over the struggling Bank of Illinois.

From that point, Ninian Edwards had a poor relationship with the General Assembly.

Also in 1827, Ninian Edwards ordered the Illinois militia to join another war against Native Americans in northern Illinois.

Ninian Edwards dispatched the militia and ordered 600 more men to be recruited in Sangamon County.

When Ninian Edwards' ended on December 6,1830, he returned to private life.

Ninian Edwards ran for the US House of Representatives in 1832 and lost.

Ninian Edwards devoted himself to charitable medical work in Belleville, giving free care to local residents.

Ninian Edwards was interred in Belleville, but was later moved to Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Ninian Edwards's brother was Cyrus Edwards who was a lawyer and Illinois state legislator.

Ninian Edwards was married to Elizabeth Porter Todd, a sister of Mary Todd Lincoln.