Josiah Martin was the last Royal Governor of North Carolina, and while he spent the first few months of the job in New York, he probably wouldn’t have a reputation as an especially bad governor if he hadn’t been hampered so much by circumstances that were in place before he got the job.

There were money issues that his predecessor had left behind, and the rest of the government was plagued by internal squabbling that pretty much ensured nothing got done. It’s actually kind of amazing that there were any Loyalists left in North Carolina by the time 1776 rolled around.

But there were, and so Josiah Martin began to put together a nearly foolproof plan to get himself back in power.

Nearly.

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P.S. You know you watched a lot of The West Wing when you hear the name “Josiah” and your mind immediately goes to “Bartlet.” Just sayin’.