Essay:In Defense of James G. Blaine

This essay is an original work by Liberaltears. Please comment only on the talk page.

You might be familiar with the name James G. Blaine. Also known as "the Continental Liar from the state of Maine," he was a prominent leader of the Republican Half-Breeds, which supported ending the spoils system, a decision that came at the cost of Southern blacks. Blaine was terribly corrupt, and dragged the GOP into defeat in the 1884 presidential election when he divided the party and caused Mugwumps to bolt and support Bourbon Democrat Grover Cleveland instead. As this vague line which you may have heard of before goes:

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...Blaine was the leader of the Half-Breeds, which supported civil service reform.

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And thus, the reader may be led into thinking that Blaine himself supported civil service reform, in addition to the notion that he was such a faithful and devoted Half-Breed such that a leadership role was given to him. Except that's not the truth. And contrary to some common implied talking points that appear to bash Blaine, I will offer points to demonstrate his honorable aspects that too often are overlooked.

Firstly, regarding the charge of corruption: given how widespread it was in the context of the 1870s, selectively picking Blaine to attack over the matter is inconsistent and unfair. Personal integrity during that era did not correlate to moral soundness, as observed in the example of Half-Breed William A. Wheeler, President Hayes' vice president; Wheeler was known for refusing to take part in corruption, yet also coldly turned his back on blacks in the South in hopes of appealing to former Southern Whigs. And President Ulysses S. Grant, who was surrounded with corruption, fought valiantly to safeguard the constitutional rights of newly freed blacks, with his greatest accomplishments including a breakup of the First Ku Klux Klan.

Now, time to address the issue of Blaine, the Half-Breeds, and civil service reform: what you may not have been told is that his viewpoints during the 1870s actually matched that quite similarly of the Stalwarts, conservative Republicans led by Roscoe Conkling who supported maintaining the spoils system so they could use patronage to benefit blacks. The primary reason Blaine did not formally join the Stalwarts was due to a nasty personal feud with Conkling dating back to the early 1860s when both were U.S. representatives.

During the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes, Blaine opposed the lenient policies against the South. Blaine in addition did not support civil service reform, which Hayes pursued as an ally of congressional Half-Breeds. During this period, a leader of the Half-Breeds was George Frisbie Hoar, a senator from Massachusetts who abhorred corruption. And as noted by Richard E. Welch, Jr. in George Frisbie Hoar and the Half-Breed Republicans, other Half-Breeds during the Hayes presidency included "George Edmunds, William Wheeler, Stanley Matthews, Henry Blair, William Evarts, George McCrary, Henry Dawes, and John Sherman." Welch clearly states furthermore that Blaine was not allied with the Half-Breeds during this time.

The only time Blaine really led the Half-Breeds was in the 1880 presidential race, and this was likely more attributed to viewpoints on tariffs, industry, and railroads than the issue of civil service reform. Traditional Half-Breeds like Sen. Edmunds of Vermont distrusted Blaine, who later during the presidency of Chester A. Arthur did not support the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. And when Blaine ran for president in 1884, Edmunds refused to support him.

Lastly, an important aspect of Blaine's record that should not be overlooked was his commitment to civil rights. A traditional Lincoln Republican from the beginning, he strongly supported GOP efforts to protect the rights of Southern blacks, helping pass the Enforcement Acts later in the Grant presidency that fought Democrat KKK terrorists. When Hayes pushed for lenient measures, Blaine resisted and would oppose efforts by Democrats to weaken the Enforcement Acts the GOP-led Congress had passed. His congressional voting record in addition was also mostly conservative, siding with the political right 78% of the time.