LAD #2: John Peter Zenger

      1. Who was John Peter Zenger?
He was the publisher of the New York Weekly Journal and this is what got him in trouble. He wrote articles that exposed the corrupt royal governor, William Cosby. He accused the government of rigging elections and was extremely critical of the governor. This led to him getting jailed.

   2. What was the controversy over his charges? Talk about Hamilton's defense.

Andrew Hamilton defended Mr. Zenger by saying that even though he did print the articles, it was his freedom to do so. Libel is what Zenger was charged with, and that meant he had published something opposed to the government. So Hamilton asked the jury to prove the accusations made by Zenger to Cosby were false, and when they could not, the jury came back with the not guilty verdict. Therefore Hamilton had proven that Zenger was free to speak his mind because he was not publishing stuff that were false, the things he published weren't proven false.

      3. What influence did his case have on American governmental tradition?
This showed that the government, was corrupt in certain areas and that freedom of speech was important. This case proved that Zenger was not wrong in publishing his accusations because the prosecutors couldn't prove it wrong and it also showed that free speech was a liberty that people should live with.

      4. What is the lasting significance of his trial? Explain.
This trial proved that free speech was a liberty. It was later included during the constitution and it was used during the American Revolution, when Americans felt the need to exercise the use of their free speech. This trial overall, set the stage for freedom of speech to be a liberty.