James Blaine
James Gillespie Blaine (January 31, 1830–January 27, 1893) was a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator from Maine and a two-time United States Secretary of State.
He was born in West Brownsville, Washington County, Pennsylvania. Blaine graduated from Washington College, Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1847.
Blaine taught at the Western Military Institute, Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky. He returned to Pennsylvania and studied law. From 1852-1854, he taught at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind in Philadelphia.
In 1854, Blaine moved to Maine, where he edited the Portland Advertiser and the Kennebec Journal. He served as a member in Maine House of Representatives from 1859 to 1862, serving the last two years as Speaker of the House.
Blaine was elected as a Republican to the 38th Congress and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1863, to July 10, 1876, when he resigned. He was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives during the 41st through 43rd Congresses. He served as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Rules during the 43rd through 45th Congresses).
In 1875, to promote the separation of church and state, Blaine proposed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the use of public funds for any religious purpose. The amendment did not pass at the federal level, but a number of states adopted similar laws, which are commonly known as Blaine Amendments.
Blaine was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for President on the Republican ticket in 1876 and 1880. (See U.S. presidential election, 1876, U.S. presidential election, 1880.)
Blaine was appointed and subsequently elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Lot M. Morrill. He was re-elected and served from July 10, 1876, to March 5, 1881, when he resigned to become Secretary of State. While in the Senate, he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (45th Congress) and U.S. Senate Committee on Rules (also 45th Congress).
Blaine was Secretary of State in the Cabinets of Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur from March 5 to December 12, 1881. He was unsuccessful Republican candidate for President of the United States in 1884 (See U.S. presidential election, U.S. presidential election, 1884.) He subsequently served as Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison from 1889-1892, when he resigned.
Blaine also aided in organizing and was the first president of the Pan American Congress.
Blaine died in Washington, D.C and is interred in Oak Hill Cemetery. Reinterment took place at the request of the State of Maine in the Blaine Memorial Park, Augusta, Maine, in June 1920.
| Preceded in first service (1881): William M. Evarts | Secretary of State of the United States | Succeeded in first service (1881): Frederick T. Frelinghuysen |
| Preceded in second service (1889-1892): Thomas F. Bayard | Succeeded in second service (1889-1892): John W. Foster | |
| Preceded by: Lot Myrick Morrill | U.S. Senators from Maine | Succeeded by: William P. Frye |