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

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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 [1].

James G. Blaine[edit]

James G. Blaine (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): Coemgenus (talk) 18:23, 29 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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)[reply]

  • 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)[reply]
  • 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)[reply]

Source review - spotchecks not done. Nikkimaria (talk) 23:35, 3 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • 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)[reply]
  • 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"?
  • 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)[reply]
Maine politics
  • "Even in the party's early days," maybe "From the party's early days"?
  • In the second paragraph, consider changing a couple of "Blaine"s to "him".
Reconstruction
  • I would mention which view of what states must ratify the 14th amendment prevailed
  • Some appropriate use of links and pipes regarding the Johnson impeachment would be a good thing.
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)[reply]
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.
  • " fraudulent railroad construction contracts in which the government was overcharged by millions of dollars." Cannot this be shortened?
  • " allowed for the fraud" maybe "made the fraud possible"?
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.
Secretary of State 1881
  • " presiding over the cabinet " Well, he didn't, did he? Wasn't that Garfield's job?
  • 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)[reply]
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)[reply]
  • "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)[reply]
  • " Blaine next appointed " Harrison did, actually. Maybe "procured the appointment of "?
Good point. Done. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:50, 7 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • 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)[reply]
  • 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)[reply]
  • I added a legacy paragraph at the end. --Coemgenus (talk) 10:55, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]


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)[reply]

Thanks for the review! --Coemgenus (talk) 10:55, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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)[reply]

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

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)[reply]

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)[reply]
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)[reply]
That should be all for the image issues. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:36, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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)[reply]


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