ers of the time are
full of politics and party animosity. The shout of battle still resounds
in the title of a little book published by Elihu Phinney in 1796: "The
Political Wars of Otsego: or, Downfall of Jacobinism and Despotism;
Being a Collection of Pieces, lately published in the _Otsego Herald_.
To which is added, an Address to the Citizens of the United States; and
extracts from Jack Tar's Journals, kept on board the ship Liberty,
containing a summary account of her Origin, Builders, Materials,
Use--and her Dangerous Voyage from the lowlands of Cape Monarchy to the
Port of Free Representative Government. By the author of the
Plough-Jogger."[63]

In the political correspondence of Judge Cooper and his contemporaries
there are frequent complaints of fraud, and of the influence and
prominence of foreigners, especially the Irish, with grave expressions
of fear for the future of the country and the stability of property. The
Federalists describe themselves as "friends of order," and refer to
their opponents as "anti-Christians," and "enemies of the country." One
of Judge Cooper's friends who had removed to Philadelphia writes: "We
are busy about electing a senator in the state legislature. The contest
is between B. R. M.----, a gentleman, and consequently a Federalist, and
a dirty stinking anti-federal Jew tavern-keeper called I. I----. But,
Judge, the friends to order here don't understand the business, they are
uniformly beaten, we used to order these things better at Cooperstown."

It is evident that Judge Cooper had gained some reputation for his skill
in electioneering in Otsego county. Philip Schuyler, writing to Judge
Cooper of the election of 1791, says: "I believe fasting and prayer to
be good, but if you had only fasted and prayed I am sure we should not
have had seven hundred votes from your country--report says that you was
very civil to the young and handsome of the sex, that you flattered the
old and ugly, and even embraced the toothless and decrepid, in order to
obtain votes. When will you write a treatise on electioneering? Whenever
you do, afford only a few copies to your friends."

Judge Cooper's chief political opponent in the county was Jedediah Peck,
who settled in Burlington, Otsego county, in 1790, a man of an entirely
different type from Judge Cooper, yet equally famous in the political
life of the times. Coarse and uneducated, Peck overcame all
disadvantages by his shrewdness, intellectual p