Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/336

 BLAIKIK

BLAINE.

h..l.l in H.-;iltl». ■ '• Tlio M.)r:il Education of the Younj?.*" •• t'ounsel to Parents on the Moral E.luration of their Childri'n ■' (1870); ••Rescue Work in Keliition to Prostitution and Disease" (188-2); "Wrong ami Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil "' (1883), and •' Pioneer Work in Oi>ening the Medical Profession to Women " (18a">); "Tlie Human Element in Sex."

BLACKWELL, Lucy Stone. (See Lucy Stone.)

BLAIKIE, William, athlete, was born in York, Livingston county, X. Y., May 24, 1843. He was graduated from Harvard college in 18C6 and from the law school in 1868. In 1869 he took the Har- vard oarsmen to England and acted as their treasurer, and ujx)n liis return he became pardon clerk in the office of the U. S. attorney -general at Washington, and afterward for two years was assistant in the office of the United States dis- trict attorney of the second judicial circuit at New York. In January, 1873, he opened a law office in New York city, and for eight years held the office of commissioner of the United States court of claims. From his Harvard days Mr. Blaikie took an active interest in atliletics and in physical training, writing and lecturing exten- sively on the subject. His most noteworthy pub- lications are, " How to get Strong and How to Stay So " (1879), and " Sovmd Bodies for our Boys and Girls" (18.S4).

BLAINE, James Gillespie, statesman, was born at West Brownsville, Pa., Jan. 31, 1830; son of Ephraim Lyon and Maria (Gillespie) Blaine, grandson of James Blaine, and great-grandson of Ephraim Plain.- who served as a commissary- gen eral under Washington, with whom he was on terms of personal friendship. Maria Gillespie was the daughter of Neal Gillespie, who came from Donegal, Ire- land, an educated and cultivated man and a Roman Cath- olic. The son re- ceived his early ed- ucation from his father and mater- nal grandfather, and had the advantage of pr»'i«ring for college at a school kept by a culti- vated Englishman, to whom he was sent when eleven years of age. In 1845 he entered Wash- ington college, and was graduated in 1847, deliv- ering an oration and the English salutatory. He was for a time a t«acher at the Western military institute, Blue Lick Springs, Ky., and there he

met Harriet Stanwood, to whom he was married within a few months. On his return to Pennsyl- vania he .studied law for a short time, and in 18.'3'2-'54 taught the higher branches in the Penn- sylvania institution for the blind at Philadelphia. In 1854 he removed to Augusta, Me., bought an interest in the Kennebec Journal and as its edi- tor acquired reputation as a writer on jwlitical subjects and became prominent in the state. In 18.')6 Mr. Blaine was sent as a delegate to the first Republican national convention, which nominated John C. Fremont for the presidency, and on his return to Maine he delivered his maiden political speech. In 1857 he severed his connection with the Journal, and assumed edi- torial control of the Portland Advertiser. In 1858, on his election to the state legislature, he abandoned journalism as a pursuit, though he edited the Kennebec Journal during the cam- paign of 1860. Mr. Blaine sat in the state legisla- ture from 1858 to 1862, acting as speaker of the house during liis last two terms. In 1858 he was made chairman of the state Republican com- mittee, a position which he held until 1878. In 1862 he was elected as a representative to the 38th and was re-elected to the 39th, 40th, 41st, 42d, 43d and 44th congresses, 1863-'76, and was speaker of the house, 1869-'75. His convic- tions, as expressed to his constituents on his first nomination for Congress, he maintained during the troublous times which followed; he said: " The great object with us all is to subdue the rebellion speedily, effectually and finally. In our march to that end we must crush all inter- vening obstacles. If slavery or any other insti- tution stands in the way it must be removed. Perish all tilings else, the national life must be saved." He became eminent for his part in the debates on all considerable questions during the civil war, making few long speeches, but excel- ling in the frequent skirmishes common in the house, for which his nimble mind, his alert com- prehension and his wide knowledge of the sub- jects discussed peculiarly fitted him. He was largely instrumental in formulating an equitable basis for the reconstruction of the Union, the 14th amendment to the constitution being the embodiment of ideas to which he had given utter- ance in the house. The " Blaine Amendment " providing for the reliabilitation to state rights of any of the seceding states, which should es- tablish equal suffrage without regard to race and color, though defeated at first, finally pa.ssed both branches of Congress in 1867. ]SIr. Blaine strenuously opposed the proposition to pay the national debt in greenbacks. His authoritative maintenance of the position that naturalized citizens are entitled to the same measure of protection abroad as native-born Americans, led