Dorsey William Shackleford (August 27, 1853 – July 15, 1936) was a

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Early life

Shackleford was born in Sweet Springs, Missouri. He attended public schools and William Jewell College,

Liberty, Missouri Liberty is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Missouri, United States and is a suburb of Kansas City, located in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 30,167. Liberty is home to Willi ...

where he studied law. He taught school from 1877 to 1879.

Career

He was admitted to the bar in 1878 and commenced practice in

Boonville, Missouri Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeated the Missouri Stat ...

. He served as prosecuting attorney of Cooper County, Missouri from 1882 to 1886 and from 1890 to 1892. He served as judge of the fourteenth judicial circuit of Missouri from June 1, 1892, until his resignation on September 9, 1899, having been elected to Congress. Dorsey W

Shackleford was elected as a Democratic Representative to the Fifty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of

Richard P. Bland Richard Parks Bland (August 19, 1835 – June 15, 1899) was an American politician, lawyer, and educator from Missouri. A Democrat, Bland served in the United States House of Representatives from 1873 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1899, representing ...

. He was re-elected to the Fifty-seventh and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from August 29, 1899, to March 3, 1919. He served as chairman of the Committee on Roads (sixty-third to sixty-fifth Congresses) and introduced legislation that would ultimately be enacted as the

Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 The Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 (also known as the Bankhead–Shackleford Act and Good Roads Act), , , was enacted on July 11, 1916, and was the first federal highway funding legislation in the United States. The rise of the automobile at the star ...

. On April 5, 1917, he voted against declaring war on Germany. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress. He moved to

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the princip ...

, in 1919 and continued the practice of law. He died in

, July 15, 1936. He was interred in Walnut Grove Cemetery,

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shackleford, Dorsey William 1853 births 1936 deaths People from Sweet Springs, Missouri William Jewell College alumni Educators from Missouri Missouri state court judges Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri People from Jefferson City, Missouri