Secretary of State Blaine Resigns (1881)

Secretary of State James G. Blaine resigned on December 15, 1881, shortly after Chester A. Arthur took office following the assassination of James A. Garfield. While the new president would replace his entire Cabinet in time, it was unsurprising that Blaine was one of the first to depart. Blaine and Arthur were in opposing factions of the Republican Party and their political differences made the relationship untenable.

The Republican Party during the late 1870s was divided between two factions, the “Stalwarts” and the “Half-breeds.” The “Stalwarts,” of which President Arthur was a member, were conservative supporters of Ulysses S. Grant and opponents of Rutherford B. Hayes’s southern policy and civil-service reform efforts. The “Half-breeds” of which Blaine was a leader, opposed civil service reform as well, but placed greater emphasis on the tariff issue. While the groups’ positions were not drastically different, the party split was very real and had significant effects. Arthur earned the vice-presidential nomination because Garfield wanted to secure “Stalwart” support. Once Arthur assumed the presidency, many believed that the “Half-breed” cabinet members would resign. While it is possible that some sort of arrangement could have been worked out between Arthur and Blaine that would have allowed Blaine to stay in his post, such an event was unlikely. Blaine’s resignation insured that the Arthur Administration would not be debilitated by the major splits that wracked the Republican Party.

Blaine’s tenure as Secretary of State was so short that it is difficult to assess his policies, especially those towards Latin America. He simply never had enough time to fully pursue them. Blaine, however, would have another opportunity to try his hand at foreign policy when President Benjamin Harrison appointed him Secretary of State in 1889. Nonetheless, Blaine’s resignation in 1881 demonstrated one very important lesson: the importance of political unity within a presidential administration.

Sources: David Healy, James G. Blaine and Latin America (London: University of Missouri Press, 2001), Justus D. Doenecke, The Presidencies of James A. Garfield & Chester A. Arthur (Lawrence: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1981), Lester Brune, Chronological History of United States Foreign Relations (New York: Garland Publishing, 1985),