born Dec. 30, 1847, Niederselters, Prussia
died March 12, 1902, Joliet, Ill., U.S.
German-born U.S. politician, governor of Illinois (1893–97).
He emigrated from Germany as a child. In the 1870s he moved to Chicago, where he accumulated a small fortune in real estate and became active in Democratic Party politics. In 1892 he won the governorship as a reformist candidate. In 1893, at the urging of Haymarket Riot . The controversial pardon provoked an outcry from conservatives and contributed to his defeat for reelection in 1896, though Altgeld's decision later gained wide approval in judicial circles.