Historians Would be Baffled by Some of the Undrafted Politicians from the AMPU Playtest

[vcczar]

I think Historians would be most baffled by these 10 undrafted players--in no particular order:

• Theodore Sedgwick
• Robert H Harrison
• Henry Middleton
• Caesar Rodney
• Joshua Clayton
• Pierce Butler
• William Maclay
• William Cushing
• Robert Morris (note: I bumped him up from 1 admin to 2 admin as he should be for 1774)
• Benedict Arnold

[vcczar]

2 minutes ago, Patine said:

I must apologize, but this list would need a bit of explanation for me. And obviously from most of your test players, given the wording of the thread title.

Thanks. Worded it better. 

The draft has been going on for about a week. These are politicians that I think Historians would be surprised to see as unclaimed at this point. For instance, Sedgwick was a Speaker, Harrison and Cushing a SC Justice, Morris was the financier of the Revolution and also the finance minister prior to cabinet creation. Arnold was the traitor but also a rare skillfull American general at the time. The rest were all notable legislators, Maclay being a foreshadowing of Ron Paul Libertarianism. 

[vcczar]

3 minutes ago, Patine said:

Do you mean to say that the whole American side of the whole American Revolutionary War was effectively bankrolled by one man? Or do you mean he just MANAGED the funds? I ask, because there actually WERE 17th and 18th Century wars where one man effectively paid the bills for the whole affair for one belligerent party.

He's called the "Financier of the Revolution." I know others were involved. Morris was probably the primary financial backer. He also ran the continental economic system for about 5 years. He ended up in debtor's prison, which is kind of amusing considering his title. 

[MrPotatoTed]

Yep, Robert Morris did indeed personally pay for a significant portion of the Revolutionary War, and was never repaid.  There's certainly a few others this is true for as well.  I grew up near the university named after him, so he stands out to me.

I'm aware of Caesar Rodney mostly thanks to the musical 1776 that I did the summer between high school and college -- though he's mostly characterized as being very ill and therefore absent for a significant part of the show before making a grand return to give one of the more important votes in favor of independence.  I don't know how much of that is real and how much is dramatized for the musical.

And I'm aware of "Benedict Arnold = Traitor", but that was all I really knew about him until I watched "Turn: Washington's Spies" of which he is a central figure.  But, again, it's a fictional spin on a true event.

The rest I'm not particularly familiar with, until they turn up one day in another musical. ;c)

 

[ConservativeElector2]

On 7/12/2021 at 3:42 AM, vcczar said:

I think Historians would be most baffled by these 10 undrafted players--in no particular order:

• Theodore Sedgwick
• Robert H Harrison
• Henry Middleton
• Caesar Rodney
• Joshua Clayton
• Pierce Butler
• William Maclay
• William Cushing
• Robert Morris (note: I bumped him up from 1 admin to 2 admin as he should be for 1774)
• Benedict Arnold

I have often considered drafting Harrison, but he leaves the games pretty early.

And I believe nobody wants Arnold. Especially, if he just can be used in military positions.

[MrPotatoTed]

13 hours ago, Patine said:

Here in Canada, our traditional historical view of Benedict Arnold is obviously a bit different. I wouldn't say he's a national hero, by any means, but he is seen is very different light. He was given a big estate in New Brunswick as a Loyalist Grant, and a statue of him still stands on part of the grounds the old estate (now broken up into many smaller properties and whole towns) was.

My own perspective is a bit skewed...because my own ancestors were also loyalists who were granted land in Canada as a reward for their service against the rebels in the Revolutionary War.  Haha.  We didn't trickle back down into the US until my great great grandfather did so in the early 1900s.  

But (to my knowledge at least) we chose our side and stuck to it -- none of this betrayal business.  

[MrPotatoTed]

9 minutes ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

And I believe nobody wants Arnold. Especially, if he just can be used in military positions.

If I were a human player, I'd take this challenge and try to get Arnold positioned to become our first President.

But, alas, I am a machine and thus all drafting is done via dice.  ;c)

[Timur]

2 hours ago, MrPotatoTed said:

If I were a human player, I'd take this challenge and try to get Arnold positioned to become our first President.

But, alas, I am a machine and thus all drafting is done via dice.  ;c)

Now that would be an odd position.

[MrPotatoTed]

21 hours ago, Timur said:

Now that would be an odd position.

Just for the fun/challenge of it.  The last time I played the game (instead of running it as the CPU), we started in 2000 and I managed to get Rudy Giuliani in office as Speaker of the House by like 2004.  ;c)