Editing James G. Blaine (section)

=== Reconstruction and impeachment ===
[[File:Blaine, James G.jpg|thumb|upright|James G. Blaine in the 1860s]]
Blaine was reelected in 1864 and, when the [[39th United States Congress|39th Congress]] assembled in December 1865, the main issue was the [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]] of the defeated [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]].{{sfnm|Muzzey||1pp=48–49|Russell||2pp=130–136}} Although he was not a member of the committee charged with drafting what became the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]], Blaine did make his views on the subject known and believed that three-fourths of the non-seceded states would be needed to ratify it, rather than three-fourths of all states, an opinion that did not prevail and placed him, atypically, in the radical camp.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=50–51}} The Republican Congress also played a role in the governance of the conquered South, dissolving the state governments President [[Andrew Johnson]] had installed and substituting military governments under Congress' control.{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=52–53}} Blaine voted in favor of these new, harsher measures, but also supported some leniency toward the former rebels when he opposed a bill that would have barred Southerners from attending the [[United States Military Academy]].{{sfn|Muzzey|pp=52–53}} Blaine voted to [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|impeach Johnson]] in 1868, although he had initially opposed the effort.{{sfnm|Muzzey||1p=57|Russell||2pp=172–175}} Later, Blaine was more ambiguous about the validity of the charges against Johnson, writing that "there was a very grave difference of opinion among those equally competent to decide,"{{sfn|Blaine|p=379|loc=v. 2}} but he followed his party's leaders.{{sfn|Muzzey|p=58}}