The second man to hold this position, Edward Coles, spent most of his term fighting a proposed convention which would have legalized slavery.  This position was held at the end of the 19th century by John Tanner, who defeated an incumbent who might have been the Democratic p
The second man to hold this position, Edward Coles, spent most of his term fighting a proposed convention which would have legalized slavery.  This position was held at the end of the 19th century by John Tanner, who defeated an incumbent who might have been the Democratic presidential candidate in 1896 had he not been born in Germany.  In the 1930s, Henry Horner became the first Jew to hold this position, which has more recently been occupied by Daniel Walker and Jim Edgar.  Also held by John Reynolds, John Peter Altgeld, and Adlai Stevenson, FTP, name this governmental position whose most recent holders include the criminal George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.
The second man to hold this position, Edward Coles, spent most of his term fighting a proposed convention which would have legalized slavery.  
Governor of Illinois