In the early 1900s, Senator James G. Blaine fought to change the First Amendment so that it would restrict religious freedom. Church schools were popping up across the nation, nearly all from a single faith tradition — mainly Catholic — which infuriated him.
A popular movement and party of the time avidly opposed Catholicism because of its association with Irish immigrants, who were considered subhuman by many of the era’s popular “eugenics” proponents.
Senator Blaine’s outrageous attempt to change the First Amendment passed the House but failed by just four votes in the Senate. Though Blaine and his compatriots were unable to change the U.S. Constitution, many took his discriminatory work and put it into state constitutions. These are called “Blaine Amendments.”
The State of Oklahoma incorporated the Blaine Amendment into its state constitution in 1907, and is now using that amendment to discriminate against Christian schools.
