Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/James G. Blaine/archive1


 * The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by GrahamColm 22:22, 24 March 2012.

James G. Blaine

 * Nominator(s): Coemgenus (talk) 18:23, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

I am nominating this for featured article because after a GA review and a peer review, it's ready for a shot at the bronze star. Coemgenus (talk) 18:23, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Note: This is a WikiCup nomination. The following nominators are WikiCup participants: Coemgenus. To the nominator: if you do not intend to submit this article at the WikiCup, feel free to remove this notice. UcuchaBot (talk) 00:01, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Support - I made a few minor changes. I can't see anything wrong with it.  Looks like it passes FAC to me.--GrapedApe (talk) 03:11, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Source review - spotchecks not done. Nikkimaria (talk) 23:35, 3 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Be consistent in whether explanatory notes have their citations inline or as footnotes
 * No citations to Bastert
 * Be consistent in whether you provide full page ranges for articles in Sources
 * Why provide states for entries in Sources but not for those in Bibliography? Nikkimaria (talk) 23:35, 3 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I think I've fixed all of these. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:52, 4 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Comments A good effort, only a few concerns:


 * Comments by Wehwalt
 * Lede
 * "advocate of black suffrage" As there was at least some black suffrage, perhaps "supporter" instead of "advocate"?
 * Changed it. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:33, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I may be overly picky, but my reaction to reading about the coercive measures under Grant was to say "What about the ones under Johnson"?
 * I took out the Grant bit. Don't remember why that was in there in the first place.  --Coemgenus (talk) 00:33, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Maine politics
 * "Even in the party's early days," maybe "From the party's early days"?
 * Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:38, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * In the second paragraph, consider changing a couple of "Blaine"s to "him".
 * Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:38, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Reconstruction
 * I would mention which view of what states must ratify the 14th amendment prevailed
 * Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:38, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Some appropriate use of links and pipes regarding the Johnson impeachment would be a good thing.
 * Done? --Coemgenus (talk) 00:38, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Monetary policy
 * "were ordered to be redeemed in gold" I would say "were made redeemable in gold".  Once the act passed, people found they didn't mind carrying them around instead of heavy lumpy gold coins.
 * Good point -- almost none were actually redeemed once people knew it was guaranteed. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:38, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Speaker of the House
 * "large house on Fifteenth Street in the city.[43] At the same time, the Blaine family moved to a larger house" some variation in the "large house" sequence would be good.  In fact, I would suggest changing both, this section talks a lot already about Houses.
 * Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:43, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * " fraudulent railroad construction contracts in which the government was overcharged by millions of dollars." Cannot this be shortened?
 * Done. That should be less unwieldy.  --Coemgenus (talk) 00:43, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * " allowed for the fraud" maybe "made the fraud possible"?
 * Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:43, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Plumed Knight
 * "also resigned as Treasury Secretary three days later" Three days later than what? The close of the convention, I assume.  I would clarify.
 * Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:43, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Secretary of State 1881
 * " presiding over the cabinet " Well, he didn't, did he? Wasn't that Garfield's job?
 * I'm not sure what you mean here. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * While, especially then, SecState was considered the lead Cabinet post, he doesn't actually preside in Cabinet meetings, the President does. It's purely honorary.--Wehwalt (talk) 01:02, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Secretary of State redux
 * I would toss a mention of Pearl Harbor (the place) into the first paragraph of the Pacific Diplomacy section.
 * Good point; it might interest people that Pearl was important to the U.S. even back then. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * "Carter agreed" This is a strong term.  Did he sign a treaty or something?
 * He agreed enough to take the idea back to Hawaii and propose it to the king and his cabinet. The sources don't say whether Carter put his name to a treaty -- I would guess he did not, but it's vague.  I changed the language.  --Coemgenus (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * " Blaine next appointed " Harrison did, actually.  Maybe "procured the appointment of "?
 * Good point. Done.  --Coemgenus (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Can perhaps a paragraph or so be written in conclusion about, if not legacy, at least the effect Blaine had on the nation and the Republican party?--Wehwalt (talk) 19:14, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Legacy is tough -- he is nearly forgotten today -- but he certainly had an impact in his day. Give me a couple days to fiddle with some language -- Ealdgyth suggested something similar at GA review and I never got to it, but the Rolde book gets into the subject a bit.  --Coemgenus (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I added a legacy paragraph at the end. --Coemgenus (talk) 10:55, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

Support. Thank you for this well-written, comprehensive article about a very interesting figure in U.S. history. When I first began reading it, I didn't realize he was the one responsible for codifying the separation of church and state in relation to public schools (but should have known, as an education major!). - Lemurbaby (talk) 05:07, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the review! --Coemgenus (talk) 10:55, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

Support on prose and comprehensiveness. My reservations have been addressed, this seems a fine article on a figure unjustly obscure.--Wehwalt (talk) 02:06, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Support - I was the GA reviewer and the article meets all my expectations. Ealdgyth - Talk 12:04, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Delegate's comment - I would like to see a routine spotcheck of the sources and an image review. Graham Colm (talk) 19:07, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Image review
 * File:James_G._Blaine_-_Brady-Handy.jpg needs a US PD tag
 * I added it.


 * Is File:Appletons'_Blaine_James_Gillespie_signature.jpg PD-signature?
 * Yes, as far as I can tell. I updated the tag.


 * File:AssasinationPresGarfield.JPG: any further info on source? Newspaper name, exact date?
 * "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" (July 11, 1881). I added it to the file on commons.


 * File:Bernard_Gilliam_-_Phryne_before_the_Chicago_Tribunal.jpg should identify the copyright status of the original work as well as the restoration
 * I noted that the original, published in 1884, is PD-US.


 * File:Seal_of_the_Speaker_of_the_US_House_of_Representatives.png is tagged as lacking author info
 * It says its author is User:Ipankonin.


 * File:Bharrison.gif: the Executive Office didn't technically exist until 1939, and the image doesn't appear in the link cited. Nikkimaria (talk) 03:07, 20 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, they changed the pictures at that site. It is available at the White house Historical Association, so I changed that in the file and changed the permission to PD-US.
 * I will look into these issues over the next few days. --Coemgenus (talk) 10:07, 20 March 2012 (UTC)
 * That should be all for the image issues. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:36, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Closing comment - I took the liberty earlier today of spotchecking the sources, where possible, using Google Books. I found no issues. I think the comments on the images have been resolved.Graham Colm (talk) 22:20, 24 March 2012 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.