What about Jedediah Peck’s experiences in the Revolutionary War made him such a strong believer in democracy and the power of the people? When fighting the Revolutionary War, Peck experienced all the terrors of war. By suffering through all these hardships, Peck gained a sense of commitment to the country he fought so hard to form. His commitment is what led him to pursue only the best for his beloved republic and led him to believe that democracy would best protect his nation from tyranny. He believed that only through the power of the common man would his country be able to survive, and firmly supported the idea of a republic in order to carry out his beliefs.
What separated Jedediah Peck from a contemporary such as William Cooper?
Although William Cooper did assist Jedediah Peck in his rise to prominence in politics, Peck was nearly the polar opposite of Cooper in terms of financial and social status. At the time of Peck’s emergence in formal politics, Cooper was Otsego County’s wealthiest landlord, who worked his way to riches through speculation. Meanwhile, Peck was an uneducated, frontier jack-of-all-trades, whose property was worth about a hundredth of Cooper’s. In terms of social status, Cooper was an aristocrat, and a member of the social elite. In contrast, Peck was a man of the people, a
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Through his rise to power, Peck demonstrated to the American people the potential that every man has. Rising out of uneducated poverty, he quickly became one of the most influential political figures of his time, holding opinions and values that truly represented the virtue of the United States. His opinions concerning the power of the common man are what first caused him to fight against the British tyranny, and then later wage political war when he believed the Federalist were attempting to suppress the rights of the American