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KNOTT, James Proctor

KNOTT, James Proctor
"Hon J. Proctor Knott, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1876, Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
KNOTT, James Proctor
1830–1911

Office

Representative

State/Territory

Kentucky

Party

Democrat

Congress(es)

40th (1867–1869), 41st (1869–1871), 44th (1875–1877), 45th (1877–1879), 46th (1879–1881), 47th (1881–1883)

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Biography

KNOTT, James Proctor, a Representative from Kentucky; born in Raywick, near Lebanon, Marion County, Ky., on August 29, 1830; attended the public schools; studied law; moved to Memphis, Mo., in May 1850; was admitted to the bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Memphis, Mo.; member of the Missouri house of representatives in 1857 and resigned in August 1859; attorney general of Missouri in 1859 and 1860; returned to Kentucky and commenced the practice of law in Lebanon in 1863; elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1871); was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; again elected to the Forty-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1883); chairman, Committee on the Judiciary (Forty-fourth through Forty-sixth Congresses); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1882; one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1876 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William W. Belknap, ex-Secretary of War; Governor of Kentucky 1883-1887; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1891; professor of civics and economics, Centre College, Danville, Ky., 1892-1894, and dean of its law school 1894-1901; died in Lebanon, Ky., June 18, 1911; interment in Ryder Cemetery.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

Western Kentucky University
Kentucky Library and Museum

Bowling Green, KY
Papers: 1776-1953, 2 feet (745 items). Collection includes family and business correspondence, speeches, manuscripts of writings, sketches and drawings, autograph albums, and newspaper clippings. Unpublished guide, descriptive inventory, and catalog cards in library.

Filson Club Historical Society

Louisville, KY
Papers: 1/4 foot. A collection of speeches, miscellaneous letters, photographs, and a few items scattered among other collections. Autobiographical or biographical sketch in the Charles Lanman collection. Finding aid in repository. Restricted.

Kentucky Historical Society

Frankfort, KY
Papers: ca. 1/2 cubic foot in the Emilie Todd Helm collection, 1855-1943, no date. 9 cubic feet. Collection is personal and family correspondence. Finding aid in repository.

Library of Congress
Manuscript Division

Washington, DC
Papers: 1894, 1 letter.

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY
Papers: 1 letter book.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

Crocker, Helen Bartter. "J. Proctor Knott's Education in Missouri Politics, 1850-1862." Missouri Historical Society Bulletin 30 (January 1974): 101-16.

Knott, James Proctor. The Constitution vs. the test oath. [N.p., 1868?]

------. The Fourteenth Amendment from a legal stand-point--The late rebels not disfranchised. Speech of Hon. J. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky, delivered in the House of Representatives, January 23, 1869. Washington: F. & J. Rives & G. A. Bailey, printers, 1869.

------. Speech of Proctor Knott on Duluth with statistical comments up to date. Duluth, Minn.: The Chamber of Commerce, [1893].

Mills, Edwin W. "The Career of James Proctor Knott in Missouri." Missouri Historical Review 31 (April 1937): 288-94.

Tapp, Hambleton, comp. "James Proctor Knott and Duluth Speech." Kentucky Historical Society Register 70 (April 1972): 177-93.

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