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JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE (1830-1893)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 33 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:GILLESPIE See also:BLAINE (1830-1893)  , See also:American states-See also:man, was See also:born in See also:West See also:Brownsville, See also:Pennsylvania, on the 31st of See also:January 183o, of sturdy Scottish-Irish stock on the See also:side of his See also:father . He was the See also:great-See also:grandson of See also:Colonel See also:Ephraim See also:Blaine(1741-1804), who during the See also:War of See also:Independence served in the American See also:army, from 1778 to 1782 as See also:commissary-See also:general of the See also:Northern See also:Department . With many See also:early evidences of See also:literary capacity and See also:political aptitude, J . G . Blaine graduated at See also:Washington See also:College in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and subsequently taught successively in the Military See also:Institute, See also:Georgetown, See also:Kentucky, and in the Institution for the See also:Blind at See also:Philadelphia . During this See also:period, also, he studied See also:law . Settling in See also:Augusta, See also:Maine, in 1854, he became editor of the Kennebec See also:Journal, and subsequently of the See also:Portland Advertiser . But his editorial See also:work was soon abandoned for a more active public career . He was elected to the See also:lower See also:house of the See also:state legislature in 1858, and served four years, the last two as See also:speaker . He also became chairman of the Republican state See also:committee in 1859, and for more than twenty years personally directed every See also:campaign of his party . In 1862 he was elected to See also:Congress, serving in the House thirteen years (See also:December 1863 to December 1876), followed by a little over four years in the See also:Senate . He was chosen speaker of the House in 1869 and served three terms .

The House was the See also:

fit See also:arena for his political and See also:parliamentary ability . He was a ready and powerful debater, full of resource, and dexterous in controversy . The tempestuous politics of the war and reconstruction period suited his aggressive nature and constructive See also:talent . The See also:measures for the rehabilitation of the states that had seceded from the See also:Union occupied the See also:chief See also:attention of Congress for several years, and Blaine See also:bore a leading See also:part in framing and discussing them . The See also:primary question related to the basis of See also:representation upon which they should be restored to their full See also:rank in the political See also:system . A powerful See also:section contended that the basis should be the See also:body of legal voters, on the ground that the See also:South could not then secure an increment of political See also:power' on See also:account of the emancipated blacks unless these blacks were admitted to political rights . Blaine, on the other See also:hand, See also:con-tended that representation should be based on See also:population instead of voters, as being fairer to the See also:North, where the ratio of voters varied widely, and he insisted that it should be safeguarded by. See also:security for impartial See also:suffrage . This view prevailed, and the Fourteenth See also:Amendment to the Constitution was substantially Blaine's proposition . In the same spirit he opposed a See also:scheme of military governments for the See also:southern states, unless associated with a See also:plan by which, upon the See also:acceptance of prescribed conditions, they could See also:release themselves from military See also:rule and resume See also:civil See also:government . He was the first in Congress to oppose the claim, which gained momentary and widespread favour in 1867, that the public See also:debt, pledged in See also:coin, should be paid in See also:greenbacks . The See also:protection of naturalized citizens who, on return to their native See also:land, were subject to See also:prosecution on charges of disloyalty, enlisted his active See also:interest and support, and the agitation, in which he was conspicuous, led to the treaty of 187o between the See also:United States and Great See also:Britain, which placed adopted and native citizens on the same footing . As the presidential See also:election of 1876 approached, Blaine was clearly the popular favourite of his party .

His See also:

chance for securing the nomination, however, was materially lessened by persistent charges which were brought against him by the Democrats that as a member of Congress he had been guilty of corruption in his relations with the Little See also:Rock & Fort See also:Smith and the Northern Pacific See also:railways.' By the See also:majority of Republicans, at least, he was considered to have cleared himself completely, and in the Republican See also:national See also:convention he missed by only twenty-eight votes the nomination for See also:president, being finally beaten by a See also:combination of the supporters of all the other candidates . Thereupon he entered the Senate, where his activity was unabated . Currency legislation was especially prominent . Blaine, who had previously opposed greenback inflation now resisted depreciated See also:silver coinage . He was the See also:earnest See also:champion of the See also:advancement of American See also:shipping, and advocated liberal subsidies, insisting that the policy of protection should be applied on See also:sea as well as on land . The Republican national ' This attack led to a dramatic See also:scene in the House, in which Blaine fervidly asseverated his denial . convention of 188o, divided between the two nearly equal forces of Blaine and General U . S . See also:GrantSee also:John See also:Sherman of See also:Ohio also having a considerable following—struggled through See also:thirty-six ballots, when the See also:friends of Blaine, combining with those of Sherman, succeeded in nominating General See also:James A . See also:Garfield . In the new See also:administration Blaine became secretary of state, but, owing to the assassination of President Garfield and the re-organization of the See also:cabinet by President See also:Chester A . See also:Arthur, he held the See also:office only until December 1881 .

Phoenix-squares

His brief service was distinguished by several notable steps . In See also:

order to promote the friendly understanding and co-operation of the nations on the American continents he projected a See also:Pan-American congress, which, after being arranged for, was frustrated by his retirement . He also sought to secure a modification of the See also:Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and in an extended See also:correspondence with the See also:British government strongly asserted the policy of an exclusive American See also:control of any isthmian See also:canal which might be built to connect the See also:Atlantic and Pacific oceans . With undiminished hold on the See also:imagination and devotion of his followers he was nominated for president in 1884 . After a heated See also:canvass, in which he made a See also:series of brilliant speeches, he was beaten by a narrow margin in New See also:York . By many, including Blaine himself, the defeat was attributed to the effect of a phrase, " See also:Rum, Romanism and See also:Rebellion," used by a clergyman, Rev . See also:Samuel D . Burchard (1812–1891), on the 29th of See also:October 1884, in Blaine's presence, to characterize what, in his' See also:opinion, the Democratic party stood for . The phrase was not Blaine's, but his opponents made use of it to misrepresent his attitude toward the See also:Roman Catholics, large See also:numbers of whom are supposed, in consequence, to have withdrawn their support . Refusing to be a presidential See also:candidate in 1888, he became secretary of state under President See also:Harrison, and resumed his work which had been interrupted nearly eight years before . The Pan-American congress, then projected, now met in Washington, and Blaine, as its See also:master spirit, presided over and guided its deliberation through its session of five months . Its most important conclusions were for See also:reciprocity in See also:trade, a See also:continental railway and compulsory See also:arbitration in See also:international complications .

Shaping the See also:

tariff legislation for this policy, Blaine negotiated a large number of reciprocity See also:treaties which augmented the See also:commerce of his See also:country . He upheld American rights in See also:Samoa, pursued a vigorous See also:diplomacy with See also:Italy over the lynching of eleven Italians, all except three of them American naturalized citizens, in New See also:Orleans on the 14th of May 1891, held a See also:firm attitude during the strained relations between the United States and See also:Chile (growing largely out of the killing and wounding of American sailors of the U.S. See also:ship " See also:Baltimore " by Chileans in See also:Valparaiso on the 16th of October 1891), and carried on with Great Britain a resolute controversy over the See also:seal See also:fisheries of See also:Bering Sea,— a difference afterwards settled by arbitration . He resigned on the 4th of See also:June 1892, on the See also:eve of the See also:meeting of the Republican national convention, wherein his name was ineffectually used, and he died at Washington, D.C., on the 27th of January 1893 . During his later years of leisure he wrote Twenty Years of Congress (1884–1886), a brilliant See also:historical work in two volumes . Of singularly alert faculties, with a remarkable knowledge of the men and See also:history of his country, and an extraordinary memory, his masterful talent for politics and state-See also:craft, together with his captivating manner and engaging See also:personality, gave him, for nearly two decades, an unrivalled hold upon the fealty and See also:affection of his party . See the See also:Biography of James G . Blaine (See also:Norwich, See also:Conn., 1895) by See also:Mary See also:Abigail See also:Dodge (" See also:Gail See also:Hamilton"), and, in the " American Statesmen Series," James G . Blaine (See also:Boston, 1905) by C . E . Stan-See also:wood; also Mrs Blaine's Letters (1908) . (C . E .

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