John F. Shafroth

Who was John F. Shafroth?

John Franklin Shafroth was a United States Representative, Senator, and Governor from Colorado. Born in Fayette, Missouri, he attended the common schools and graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1875. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1876 and commenced practice in Fayette. He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1879 and continued the practice of law. He was city attorney from 1887 to 1891 and was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress as a Representative. He then joined other Colorado officials such as Senator Henry M. Teller, splitting from the Republicans to join the Silver Republican third party, on whose ticket he was reelected to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, and Fifty-seventh Congresses; he presented credentials as a Democratic Member-elect to the Fifty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1895, until his resignation on February 15, 1904, when he declared his conviction that his opponent, Robert W. Bonynge, had been duly elected – after which he was often referred to as "Honest John."

Shafroth was Governor of Colorado from 1908 to 1912, and was instrumental in bringing in Colorado's ballot initiative institutions.