Morris Sheppard of Texas: Southern progressive and prohibitionist
Bailey, Richard Ray
Bailey, Richard Ray
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1980
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Abstract
Born in 1875 in rural East Texas, Morris Sheppard prepared himself well for his career. After attending private school he entered the University of Texas in 1891. In 1895 he graduated with high grades and then attended classes in the law school of the same institution, earning a degree in 1897. Later he was accepted to graduate studies at Yale and in 1898 graduated with a Master of Law. He spent the next four years practicing law in Pittsburg and Texarkana, Texas. In 1902 he was convinced to enter politics and take the seat in the United States House of Representatives held by his recently deceased father, John L. Sheppard. For ten years thereafter he served with distinction in Congress. Always an entertaining orator, he used his talent to work on a variety of laws. Favoring progressive reforms, he advocated tariff revision, prohibition, anti-trust laws, as well as democratizating the rules of the House. Still celebrating the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912, Sheppard entered the Senate in Februray, 1913. During the next six years he maintained a reputation as a progressive legislator. Using his oratory skills and his vast knowledge of tariff data, he aided in passing the Underwood-Simmons Tariff. He also worked on a rather radical rural credit bill which was killed in committee in favor of the more moderate Rural Credit Act. He was also a loyal supporter of Wilson's program of preparedness and efforts to quiet border problems. Then culminating his early career, he authored and guided through the Senate the Eighteenth Amendment, inaugurating prohibition. In researching the life of Morris Sheppard several sources were particularly useful. The most important source were the papers of Morris Sheppard in the Eugene C. Barker Library at the University of Texas in Austin. Also valuable, the Barker Library had the papers of O. B. Colquitt, Will C. Hogg, Albert Sidney Burleson, as well as valuable newspapers. I also found information in the papers of Albert Sidney Burleson, William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson, Josephus Daniels, Tom Connally, Thomas Watt Gregory, Robert Lansing, William Howard Taft, Joseph P. Tumulty, and Robert W. Wooley. On some aspects of his personal life, two interviews with Sheppard's widow, Lucille S. Connally, were enlightening.
Contents
Subject
Subject(s)
Sheppard, Morris, 1875-1941
Legislators--Texas--Biography
Texas--Politics and government--1865-1950
Legislators--Texas--Biography
Texas--Politics and government--1865-1950
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Dissertation
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iv, 173 leaves, bound
Department
History