began a water-bound journey: floating on the Monongahela River north to Pittsburgh, then west along the Ohio River toward Illinois. Coles selected a point west of Pittsburgh to announce to his slaves their immediate freedom and also his plan to provide land to each head of a family. Coles captured the scene in an autobiographical piece written some 25 years later. Decades later, the river emancipation became the subject of a mural in the first floor (south hall) of the Illinois State Capitol. The Coles party arrived in Edwardsville, early in May 1819, and Coles began his service as Register of Lands. He also completed the manumission process by purchasing land so as to give each freed head of family . Coles also provided employment and other ongoing support for those he had freed. As Register through 1822, Coles mediated and untangled complicated land disputes, thus earning a reputation for fairness and honesty. Term as Illinois Governor Coles ran for governor in the election of 1822. To his great surprise, he won the election by a very tight margin, defeating Chief Justice Joseph Phillips (an ally of Judge Jesse Thomas and prominent slavery advocate in his own right who eventually returned to Kentucky), Associate Justice Thomas C. Browne (the eventual candidate of the Ninian Edwards faction) and militia commander James B. Moore. Coles had left Illinois on election day believing he had lost, and received the news of his victory while in Virginia recovering from bilious fever. He accordingly cleared up his land office accounts in Washington, D.C. and returned to Illinois. Madison sent him a package containing a pedometer, and a note, "As you are about to assume new motives to walk in a straight path, and with measured steps, I wish you to accept the little article enclosed, as a type of the course I am sure you will pursue, and as a token of the affection I have so long cherished for you." Coles’ inaugural address included a clear call for the end of slavery in Illinois and revision of the Black Code, as well as advocated internal improvements (especially a canal link to the Great Lakes) and aid to agriculture and education. Slavery was a very important topic at the time, because that first state constitution only permitted current practices using slave labor in the salines (salt evaporation factories) through 1825. A proslavery faction had hoped