Blaine, James Gillespie

Life Span
to
Dickinson Connection
Blaine's ancestors, including Revolutionary War hero Ephraim Blaine, were early settlers in the town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania
    Full name
    James Gillespie Blaine
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    6
    Family
    Ephraim Blaine (father), Maria Gillespie (mother), Harriet Stanwood (wife, 1850)
    Education
    Other
    Other Education
    Washington and Jefferson College, PA
    Occupation
    Politician
    Educator
    Journalist
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Republican
    Government
    US Senate
    US House of Representatives
    State legislature

    James Gillespie Blaine (Congressional Biographical Directory)

    Reference
    BLAINE, James Gillespie, a Representative and a Senator from Maine; born in West Brownsville, Washington County, Pa., January 31, 1830; graduated from Washington College, Washington, Pa., in 1847; taught at the Western Military Institute, Blue Lick Springs, Ky.; returned to Pennsylvania; studied law; taught at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind in Philadelphia 1852-1854; moved in 1854 to Maine, where he edited the Portland Advertiser and the Kennebec Journal; member, State house of representatives 1859-1862, serving the last two years as speaker; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1863, to July 10, 1876, when he resigned; Speaker of the House of Representatives (Forty-first through Forty-third Congresses); chairman, Committee on Rules (Forty-third through Forty-fifth Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for nomination for President on the Republican ticket in 1876 and 1880; appointed and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Lot M. Morrill; reelected and served from July 10, 1876, to March 5, 1881, when he resigned to become Secretary of State; chairman, Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (Forty-fifth Congress), Committee on Rules (Forty-fifth Congress); Secretary of State in the Cabinets of Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur, from March 5 to December 12, 1881; unsuccessful Republican candidate for President of the United States in 1884; Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison 1889-1892, when he resigned; aided in organizing and was the first president of the Pan American Congress; died in Washington, D.C., January 27, 1893; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery; reinterment at the request of the State of Maine in the Blaine Memorial Park, Augusta, Maine, in June 1920.
    “Blaine, James Gillespie,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000519.

    James Gillespie Blaine (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    In 1854 Blaine moved to Maine, where he became a newspaper editor and, in the political turmoil of the 1850s, served as one of the "founding fathers" of the new Republican party. More than any other political figure of his time, Blaine seemed to symbolize the success--and occasional failure--of the Republican party in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century. He launched his political career in 1858, winning a seat in the state legislature, and became chair of the Republican State Committee in 1859. He chose, as many others did, to hire a substitute when drafted for the Civil War. Instead, Blaine was elected to the House of Representatives in 1862, beginning what has been described as a "long, colorful, and controversial national record" (Marcus, p. 7). After three terms in Congress, at the age of thirty-nine, he became Speaker of the House in 1869. Blaine served in that capacity until 1875, when the Republicans lost control of the House. This six-year term in a powerful and rewarding position represents the least controversial phase of his career on the national scene in what has been called "probably . . . the happiest period of Blaine's life" (Muzzey, p. 63).

    Over and over again, contemporaries spoke of Blaine's "magnetism," the nineteenth-century equivalent of charisma. Many of the most sophisticated Republicans of the time indeed were drawn to him and devoted much of their political lives to a continuing crusade to put Blaine in the White House.
    Allan Burton Spetter, "Blaine, James Gillespie," American National Biography Online, February 2000,http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00072.html.
    Date Event
    In Maine, Republicans sweep to victory in the state and federal elections.
    In Washington, DC, the U.S. Senate passes an amended Reconstruction Bill of 1867.
    In Washington, DC, the House agrees Senate changes to the Reconstruction Bill and the measure goes to President Johnson for signature.
    The 41st Congress of the United States opens in Washington, DC
    - The 41st Congress of the United States is sitting in Washington, DC
    In Washington, DC, the 41st Congress of the United States ends its first session
    In Washington, DC, the 41st Congress of the United States opens its second session
    - The second session of the 41st Congress of the United States is meeting in Washington, DC
    - The second session of the 41st Congress of the United States is in its eighteen day holiday recess
    The second session of the 41st Congress of the United States returns from its holiday recess
    - The second session of the 41st Congress of the United States is sitting in Washington, DC
    The second session of the 41st Congress of the United States comes to an end in Washington, DC
    The third session of the 41st Congress of the United States opens in Washington, DC
    - The third session of the 41st Congress of the United States is sitting in Washington, DC
    The third session of the 41st Congress of the United States returns from its holiday recess
    - The "lame duck" third session of the 41st Congress of the United States is sitting in Washington, DC
    The 41st Congress of the United States comes to the end of its term in Washington, DC
    The 42nd Congress opens in Washington, DC
    - The 42nd Congress is sitting in Washington, DC between early March and mid-April, 1871
    In Washington, DC, the 42nd Congress ends its first session.
    The 42nd Congress opens its second session in Washington, DC
    - The 42nd Congress is sitting in Washington, DC before its holiday recess which begins on December 21, 1871
    The 42nd Congress returns from its holiday recess
    - The 42nd Congress is in session in Washington, DC between early January and mid-June, 1872
    In Washington, DC, the 42nd Congress of the United States ends its second session
    - The 42nd Congress is sitting in Washington, DC before its holiday recess which begins on December 20, 1872
    In Washington, DC, the 42nd Congress ends its third session and finishes its term
    The 43rd Congress opens in Washington, DC
    - The 43rd Congress is sitting in Washington, DC before its holiday recess which begins on December 20, 1873
    The 43rd Congress returns from its holiday recess
    - The 43rd Congress is in session in Washington, DC between early January and mid-June, 1874
    In Washington, DC, the 43rd Congress of the United States ends its first session
    - The 43rd Congress is in its second session in Washington, DC, before its holiday recess that begins December 23, 1874
    In Washington, DC, the 43rd Congress ends its second session and finishes its term
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Blaine, James G. Political Discussions, Legislative, Diplomatic, and Popular, 1856-1886. Norwich, CT: Henry Bill Publishing Co., 1887. view record
    Coulter, E. Merton. “Amnesty for All Except Jefferson Davis: The Hill-Blaine Debate of 1876.” Georgia Historical Quarterly 56 (Winter 1972): 453-494. view record
    Crapol, Edward P. James G. Blaine: Architect of Empire. Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2000. view record
    Healy, David. James G. Blaine and Latin America. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. view record
    Marcus, Robert D. Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880-1896. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971. view record
    Muzzey, David S. James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1963. view record
    Rolde, Neil. Continental Liar From the State of Maine: James G. Blaine. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House Publishers, 2007. view record
    Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism, & Rebellion: The Making of a President 1884. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. view record
    Tutorow, Norman E. James Gillespie Blaine and the Presidency. New York: Peter Lang Co., 1989. view record
    Tyler, Alice Felt. The Foreign Policy of James G. Blaine. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1965. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Blaine, James Gillespie," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5112.