[2] Born in Nehawka in Cass County in southeastern Nebraska, Sheldon received a bachelor's degree in 1892 from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

[3] As a cadet at Nebraska he commanded Company A of the university's Military Department headed by Lieutenant John J. Pershing.

[7] The railroads had been central to the creation of Nebraska territory through the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, but public perception among white Nebraskans had changed.

On June 16, 1906, Sheldon and fellow progressive Norris Brown, who was then attorney general, announced that they were seeking the Republican nominations for governor and U.S.

Accordingly, the 1907 legislative session has been characterized by historians James C. Olson and Ronald C. Naugle as creating "more important and more permanent changes in the political structure of the state than those of any other."

The 1907 legislature also enacted a statewide direct primary law, but that would continue to be a hot political issue for many years and be frequently revised.

However, although Sheldon personally favored a state law guaranteeing bank deposits similar to the one in Oklahoma territory, the Republican convention overwhelmingly voted it down.

Second, he fought hard for an option for individual counties to prohibit liquor, losing many "wet" votes that he might otherwise have picked up.

After the election, Herbert Hoover appointed Sheldon the Mississippi state head of the Internal Revenue Service.