I was thinking more of a cage fight. As you can see, Lincoln clearly has the edge.
Maybe for the next elimination game, I’ll do Greatest National Leaders or Greatest Military Leaders. In a few weeks, maybe.
Greatest scientists or greatest artists might be a fun one, considering that those guys (and girls) tended to get thrown out pretty early on in this game.
Well, I would have voted against Ben Franklin, I’m a huge Lincoln goob. But I didn’t know there was a deadline yet for this round.
The deadlines have been Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays up to now, so it would’ve followed the same schedule. Sorry.
How about a bracket game, with artists on one side and scientists on another, and have them show down at the end for Greatest Artist v Greatest Scientist? I think I might start that up, do you need permission to start a new game here?
I give you my permission.
Yeah for Ben!
Fun game, thank you for hosting it Elendil’s Heir
Nope. Knock yourself out!
And thanks, What Exit?
I would like to start an Elimination Game for the 100 most influential people (as determined by Michael Hart’s book) with perhaps additions…
Thanks for the game, Elendil’s Heir !
I see no one’s posted the final list; here’s my unofficial list of the Greatest Americans in order:
- Benjamin Franklin: Scientist, statesman, inventor
- Theodore Roosevelt: President, conservationist, statesman
- Abraham Lincoln: President, emancipator, writer
- Martin Luther King Jr.: Preacher, orator, humanitarian
- Susan B. Anthony: Suffrage activist
- George Washington: President, general, statesman
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: President, reformer, statesman
- Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist, orator
- Thomas Edison: Inventor, workaholic
- Orville and Wilbur Wright: Aviation pioneers, inventors
- James Madison: President, Framer, statesman
- John Marshall: Fourth Chief Justice
- Earl Warren: Chief Justice, governor
- Roger Williams: Statesman, religious leader
- Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens): Humorist, “Huckleberry Finn”
- George Marshall: General, diplomat, statesman
- Thomas Paine: Political theorist, pamphleteer
- Harriet Tubman: Civil rights advocate
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: President, war hero
- Jackie Robinson: Athlete, activist, inspiration
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: Supreme Court Justice
- Henry David Thoreau: Poet, naturalist, philosopher
- Daniel Webster: Orator, advocate, statesman
- George Washington Carver: Agricultural botanist
- John Franklin Enders: Modern vaccines pioneer
- Jonas Salk: Polio vaccine inventor
- Walt Whitman: Civil War poet
- William Lloyd Garrison: Abolitionist, writer
- Edgar Allan Poe: Poet, writer, critic
- William Seward: Diplomat; bought Alaska
- Upton Sinclair: Author, muckraker
- Harry Truman: President, statesman
- Langston Hughes: Harlem Renaissance poet
- Jim Thorpe: Native American athlete
- Chief Joseph (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt): Leader, peacemaker, tactician
- Will Rogers: Humorist, social commentator
- Sitting Bull: Indian leader, warrior
- George Gershwin: Prolific, versatile composer
- Helen Keller: Redefined language, mind
- John J. Pershing: Top WWI general
- Eleanor Roosevelt: Reformer, writer, advocate
- Robert Frost: Greatest American poet
- Lewis and Clark (Meriwether and William, resp.): Louisiana Purchase explorers
- Ralph Waldo Emerson: Philosopher, writer
- Henry Bergh: Saved children, animals
- John Adams: President, writer, statesman
- Alexander Hamilton: Financier, economist, statesman
- Edward R Murrow: Broadcaster
- Thomas Nast: Editorial cartoonist, muckraker
- Jesse Owens: Famed Olympic athlete
- Eli Whitney: Inventor, cotton gin
- John von Neumann: Mathematician, scientist, polymath
- Albert Einstein: Scientist, activist
- Thomas Jefferson: President, Declaration writer
- Aaron Copland: Composer, musician
- Joshua Chamberlain: Civil War hero
- Tecumseh: Indian leader, uniter
- Leonard Bernstein: Composer, conductor, educator
- J.P. Morgan: Financial giant, tycoon
- Audie Murphy: Decorated soldier, actor
- Philo Farnsworth: TV piorneer, inventor
- Andrew Carnegie: Industrialist, philanthropist
- John Brown: Righteous, inspirational abolitionist
- James K. Polk: President, statesman
- George S. Patton: WWII general, orator
- Willis Carrier: Air conditioning pioneer
- Carrie Chapman Catt: Women’s rights suffragist
- Richard Feynman: Physicist, Renaissance man
- John F. Kennedy: President, “New Frontier”
- Cesar Chavez: Civil rights activist
- Bruce Catton: Civil War historian
- Kurt Godel: Mathematician, incompleteness theorem
- Elvis Presley: Rock and Roller
- Carl Sagan: Astronomer, science popularizer
- Douglas MacArthur: WWII general
- Babe Ruth: Legendary baseball icon
- Orson Welles: Writer, director, actor
- John Coltrane: Musician, composer
- Margaret Sanger: Birth-control pioneer
- Nikola Tesla: Inventor, engineer
- Daniel Bliss: Educator, AUB founder
- Jim Henson: Beloved children’s programmer
- Frank Lloyd Wright: Prairie School architect
- Walt Disney: Animator, entrepreneur, icon
- Walt Kelly: “Pogo” creator, humorist
- John D. Rockefeller: Billionaire, philanthropist
- P.T. Barnum: World’s greatest showman
- Andrew Jackson: President, general, populist
- Richard Nixon: President, lawyer, author
- Ambrose Bierce: Author, journalist, satirist, critic
- Robert Heinlein: Science fiction author
- Jimi Hendrix: Influential musician, activist
- Babe Zaharias: Greatest female athlete
- Jack Kirby: Comics pioneer
- H.P. Lovecraft: Horror writer
- Shel Silverstein: Author, humorist
- James Branch Cabell: Author, marriage proponent
- Lucille Ball: Actress, comedian, redhead
- Charles Lindbergh: Aviator, American hero
- Henry Ford: Inventor, industrialist, philanthropist
- Marilyn Monroe: Legendary film star
- Malcolm X: Civil rights leader
Let me recommend again that the Game use Hart’s criteria with little or no change. It might seem good to replace “influence” with “positive influence” to get rid of Hitler, but where would one draw the line? The voting on Muhammed would no longer reflect his influence, but rather a comparison of Islamic Golden Age “goodness” versus modern jihadist “badness.” The question of Constantine’s influence is interesting, but disappears if the debate focusses on whether Christianization was good or bad. The vote on James Watt would be affected by quasi-Ludditism. These all might be interesting debates, but if one were to let them dominate the Hart’s List Elimination Game one wonders why bother to start with Hart’s List in the first place?
If you’re basing this on voting, you should juxtapose Lincoln and TR.
Oops! Of course it was based on the voting but somehow the top places were harder for me to double-check than the rest. 
I’d repost the list with that correction, but perhaps someone else will want to triple-check the whole list.
Because for the most part I agree with his listing and ranking.
Was my late vote a deciding vote? Didn’t mean to vote late. but I am happy about the results.
FTR, Ben Franklin has always been my favorite historical American.