John Knight Shields (August 15, 1858September 30, 1934) was a Democratic

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

from 1913 to 1925. He also served as an associate justice on the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee. The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson, Tennessee. The Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justice ...

Biography

Shields was born at his family's estate "Clinchdale", near the early pioneer settlement of Bean's Station, Tennessee in Grainger County. His education as a

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

was by private

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s, a sign of the family's affluence. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and was admitted to the Tennessee

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in 1879. He practiced in the counties surrounding his home until 1893, when he was named Chancellor of the former 12th Chancery Division. The next year, he resumed private practice in nearby Morristown, in Hamblen County. In 1902, Shields was nominated in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring incumbent David L. Snodgrass to become an associate justice of the

,"No Deadlock", ''Knoxville Sentinel'' (January 20, 1902), p. 4. an office which he held until 1910 when he was named chief justice. He resigned that post in 1913, becoming the last Tennessean elected to the U.S. Senate by the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

prior to the 17th Amendment coming into effect. Shields was popularly reelected in 1918 but in 1924 lost the Democratic nomination to

Lawrence Tyson Lawrence Davis Tyson (July 4, 1861August 24, 1929) was an American brigadier general, politician, lawyer and textile manufacturer, who operated primarily out of Knoxville, Tennessee during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During World War ...

, and returned to the private practice of law, this time in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. While in the Senate, Shields served as the chairman of several committees. He chaired the Committee on Canadian Relations in the

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and 64th Congresses, the Committee on Interoceanic Canals in the

65th Congress The 65th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1917, ...

, and the Committee on the Sale of Meat Products in the 66th Congress. Shields died at his estate "Clinchdale" and is buried in Knoxville's Memorial Cemetery.

References

External links

* *
John K. Shields Papers
, University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Shields, John K. 1858 births 1934 deaths Chief justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee Tennessee Democrats People from Bean Station, Tennessee People from Morristown, Tennessee Politicians from Knoxville, Tennessee 20th-century United States senators