James a McCue

The Legend of Plough-Jogger James a McCue

Today, scarcely a handful of people are familiar with the deeds of Jedediah Peck, alias Plough-Jogger. It's despairing to think there could be so little remembrance of a time, when a once popular and revered, Jedediah Peck, traveled the countryside sharing with whomever would listen to his radical ideologies for an unfettered democracy. No one remembers old Judge Peck with his 'twangy' Yankee accent and those saddlebags that were always stuffed with political literature. Long forgotten are the political wars in Otsego County that came to a climax one sultry night in September 1799, when Peck was arrested and dragged from his home in irons cuffed to his wrists and ankles. His only crime was the passing out of petitions, calling for the appeal Alien and Sedition Acts. The news of his arrest sparked riotous protests throughout the land... "A hundred missionaries in the cause of democracy, stationed between New York and Cooperstown, could not have done so much for the republican cause as the journey of Judge Peck, as a prisoner, for Otsego to the capital of the state." Jabez D. Hammond, 1841 Judge Peck is considered the 'Father of the Common School' in New York State. In the State Assembly, Peck initiated bills to abolish the imprisonment of debtors and slavery. So, why have historians overlooked the deeds of this once revered man? Find out, in this second volume of the Legend of Plough-Jogger! The third and final chapter to the epic trilogy coming to print, Christmas 2016!