John PC Shanks

John PC Shanks

John Peter Cleaver Shanks (born June 17, 1826 in Martinsburg , Virginia , †  January 23, 1901 in Portland , Indiana ) was an American politician . Between 1861 and 1875 he represented the state of Indiana in the US House of Representatives twice .

Career

John Shanks was born in Martinsburg in what is now West Virginia in 1826 . He enjoyed a good elementary school education. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1848, he began to work in his new profession in Portland, Indiana. In 1850 and 1851 he was a prosecutor in Jay County . Politically, he joined the Republican Party founded in 1854 . In 1855 he was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives. In the congressional election of 1860 Shanks was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the eleventh constituency of Indiana , where he succeeded John U. Pettit on March 4, 1861 . Since he was not confirmed in 1862, he could initially only complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1863 . This was shaped by the events of the civil war .

During the Civil War, Shanks served as a colonel in the Union Army . In the elections of 1866 he was re-elected to Congress in the eleventh district of his state, where he replaced Thomas N. Stilwell on March 4, 1867 . After three re-elections, he was able to spend four more terms in the US House of Representatives until March 3, 1875. Since 1869 he represented the ninth district of Indiana there as the successor to the new Vice President Schuyler Colfax . By 1869, Shanks witnessed the heated arguments between his party and President Andrew Johnson , which culminated in a narrowly failed impeachment trial against him. In 1868 and 1870, the 14th and 15th amendments were ratified. Between 1869 and 1871 Shanks was chairman of the militia committee; from 1871 to 1873 he headed the Indian Committee.

In 1874, Shanks was no longer nominated for re-election by his party. After leaving the US House of Representatives, he returned to practice as a lawyer. In 1879 he was re-elected to the Indiana House of Representatives. John Shanks died in Portland on January 23, 1901.

Web links

• John PC Shanks in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John Shanks PC in the database of Find a Grave (English)