Robinson through Tubman are now gone. On to the ninth round with:
Susan B. Anthony: Suffrage activist
Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist, orator
Thomas Edison: Inventor, workaholic
Benjamin Franklin: Scientist, statesman, inventor
Martin Luther King Jr.: Preacher, orator, humanitarian
Abraham Lincoln: President, emancipator, writer
James Madison: President, Framer, statesman
John Marshall: Fourth Chief Justice
Franklin D. Roosevelt: President, reformer, statesman
Theodore Roosevelt: President, conservationist, statesman
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens): Humorist, “Huckleberry Finn”
Earl Warren: Chief Justice, governor
George Washington: President, general, statesman
Roger Williams: Statesman, religious leader
Orville and Wilbur Wright: Aviation pioneers, inventors
Yes, let’s go to THREE votes each, and no more than one against any individual. The next round will conclude at noon EST on Mon. March 8.
As to the Inventor vs. the Chief Justice… lots of other people were working on the same stuff Edison was. I take nothing away from his genius, but sooner or later just about all of his inventions would have been created by others. Marshall, however, was exactly the right man at the right time to do what he did. Had he not, early in the development of American democracy, the course of U.S. history would’ve taken a very different - and worse - course.
And don’t call me Isildur. Idjit shoulda ditched the Ring. 
James Madison
Earl Warren
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Madison was a poor President; Warren and the Wrights are second-best-in-class for their particular areas of distinction (Warren to King for civil rights and J. Marshall for jurisprudence; the Wrights to Edison).
Roger Williams
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Thomas Edison
It’s deja vu all over again for me.
Susan B. Anthony
Mark Twain
Roger Williams
Damn. Am I so disillusioned with my childhood idols that I will now vote against Thomas Edison?
No.
John Marshall. After teaching US history and reading some of the debates around the constitution, I am convinced that the founders had something like judicial review in mind and that Marshall’s work did not constitute stunning innovation.
James Madison. I hold him in greater regard than the “burn the White House” crowd in the presidential game, but he is not the Greatest American.
[strike]Martin Luther King Jr.[/strike] Yeah, I said it. He was an incredible activist, but did his work have as much impact on our way of life as the Warren Court? No, it did not. Also, he was a serial plagiarist, a sin most grave in my heart. I cannot hold this against him in a broad sense, but he is not the Greatest American. His place in our memory has more to do with his martyrdom–and subsequent hagiography–than it does with his accomplishments. I’ll take Earl Warren over him–as well as Jackie Robinson, were I inclined to cry over spilled milk.
That said, I will instead vote for Mark Twain. Heresy can wait another day.
How does one do strikethough on the dope boards?
[del]and its opposite, [del]thusly[/del]
John Marshall
Mark Twain
Earl Warren
Susan B. Anthony
Mark Twain
Earl Warren
Susan B. Anthony
Mark Twain
Roger Williams
Susan B. Anthony
Mark Twain
Roger Williams
Mark Twain
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Thomas Edison
Susan B. Anthony
Mark Twain
Roger Williams
James Madison
Earl Warren
Roger Williams
BTW, I’m certainly not a qualified historian but the following is at odds with my readings:
Without diminishing Marshall, whose prestige might have been essential to the Plan’s adoption, I’ve read that the Plan was architected by State Dept. intellectuals (Acheson, Kennan, Clayton) and that if a single person is to be given the credit’s lion-share, it would have to be the Man at whose desk the Buck Stopped.
Hm. In that case I feel less bad about it. Ignorance fought!
George C. Marshall was a great soldier AND a great statesman. David McCullough in Truman tells the story of the President insisting that the Plan bear the name of his SecState, as if it was “the Truman Plan” it would be DOA on Capitol Hill.
Mark Twain
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Roger Williams
Orville and Wilbur Wright
James Madison
Benjamin Franklin
James Madison
John Marshall
Earl Warren