A Catholic Blaine

when James G Blaine was born his father was a Presbyterian and his mother was a catholic, while the two did have a traditional catholic ceremony James was raised a Presbyterian and later converted to Congregationalism with his wife, say he was raised irish catholic, though unlikely, how would this affect his political career.
 
I'm not sure he would have one, honestly. I suspect he might have been able to be elected to Congress in a district that had heavy Irish or French-Canadian communities, but I don't think he would rise to prominence in a Republican Party that still had a strong contingent of former Know-Nothings in its ranks. Also, and I would need to ask someone who is far more versed in Maine history than myself (although I would LOVE to read a good book on the history of Maine!), but I suspect that anti-Catholic sentiment was pretty strong in the state at the time and so I highly doubt that Blaine would ever be able to attain a seat in the Senate.
 
I'm not sure he would have one, honestly. I suspect he might have been able to be elected to Congress in a district that had heavy Irish or French-Canadian communities, but I don't think he would rise to prominence in a Republican Party that still had a strong contingent of former Know-Nothings in its ranks. Also, and I would need to ask someone who is far more versed in Maine history than myself (although I would LOVE to read a good book on the history of Maine!), but I suspect that anti-Catholic sentiment was pretty strong in the state at the time and so I highly doubt that Blaine would ever be able to attain a seat in the Senate.
He actually started in Pennsylvania, so i could see him rising to providence there, or perhaps in Boston, Catholics usually supported democrats so perhaps he could rise to providence there.

His father was a staunch supporter of the whigs and he worked at a pro-Whig newspaper, so perhaps he could still rise to some providence in the Republican Party through that.
 
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