James G. Blaine

During his teaching career he met another teacher, Harriet Stanwood, whom he married in June 1850. The couple had seven children, of whom many tragically predeceased Blaine.

James G. Blaine suffered from ill health during his later years and retired from politics in 1892 due to his worsening health. He died a few months later on January 27, 1893.

James Gillespie Blaine was born on January 31, 1830 in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania, to Ephraim Lyon Blaine and his wife Maria Gillespie as their third child. His father was a relatively wealthy businessman and landowner.

He grew up to be a smart boy and performed well in school. As a teenager he went to Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College), in nearby Washington, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1847.

He embarked on a teaching career and was employed as a professor of mathematics and ancient languages at the Western Military Institute in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1848. He was just 18 at that time and younger than many of his students!

The teaching profession suited him well even though his initial career aspiration was to become a lawyer. He accepted a job at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind (now Overbrook School for the Blind) in 1852, teaching science and literature.

A lucrative career change awaited him in 1853—he received the opportunity to become editor and co-owner of the ‘Kennebec Journal’. He, along with the other co-owner of the newspaper actively promoted the newly-formed Republican Party, and this set the pace for his political career.

It did not take him long to get involved in Republican Party politics and was selected as a delegate to the first Republican National Convention in 1856. The following year he became editor of the ‘Portland Daily Advertiser’, and ran successfully for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives in 1858.

He proved to be popular in this position and was successfully re-elected in 1859, 1860, and 1861. With his power rising within the Republican Party, he became chairman of the Republican state committee in 1859.

James G. Blaine was a towering figure in Republican politics, who as the Secretary of State played a major role in marking the end of an isolationist era in foreign policy in America and worked relentlessly towards encouraging a more active American foreign policy. His expansionist policies greatly helped America in acquiring Pacific colonies and establishing dominance over the Caribbean.