James G. Blaine is largely unknown today. If he is mentioned at all in high school and college history textbooks it is likely as the 1884 Republican Party nominee for president who lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland.1¹ During the late nineteenth century, however, Blaine was possibly the most recognized and powerful political figure in the United States, serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives, U.S. senator, secretary of state (twice), and a three-time candidate for president. Although history has generally been unkind to Blaine—tagging him as the consummate political insider—he is remembered by constitutional scholars and church–state advocates for proposing one relatively insignificant measure (at least for Blaine): an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prohibit appropriating federal or state funds to religious institutions, including religious schools (the “Blaine Amendment”).2² His proposed amendment narrowly failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote in the Senate but, as will be discussed, in the succeeding thirty-five years, twenty-one states adopted similar no-funding provisions in their respective state constitutions.3³ In all, thirty-eight state constitutions currently contain clauses preventing public dollars from being disbursed to religious institutions or used for religious purposes.4⁴ Detractors of these no-funding provisions trace a direct link between the failed Blaine Amendment and these state provisions, derisively calling them state “Blaine Amendments” or “Baby-Blaines.”5⁵

中文翻译：

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状态“布莱恩修正案”的安魂曲

James G. Blaine 今天基本上不为人知。如果他在高中和大学历史教科书中被提及，很可能是 1884 年共和党总统候选人，但输给了民主党人格罗弗克利夫兰。^{1 1}然而，在 19 世纪后期，布莱恩可能是美国最受认可和最有权势的政治人物，曾担任众议院议长、美国参议员、国务卿（两次），以及三届总统候选人. 尽管历史通常对布莱恩不利——将他标记为完美的政治内幕——但宪法学者和教会国家倡导者都记得他提出了一项相对微不足道的措施（至少对布莱恩而言）：美国宪法修正案，禁止挪用联邦或州资助宗教机构，包括宗教学校（“布莱恩修正案”）。2 ²他提出的修正案几乎没有在参议院获得必要的三分之二票数，但正如将要讨论的那样，在接下来的 35 年中，有 21 个州在各自的州宪法中采用了类似的无资助条款^{。3 3}在目前，总共有 38 部州宪法包含禁止将公共资金支付给宗教机构或用于宗教目的的条款。^{4 4}这些无资金条款的批评者认为，失败的布莱恩修正案与这些州条款之间存在直接联系，嘲笑地呼吁他们陈述了“Blaine Amendments”或“Baby-Blaines”。5 ⁵