Peter Zenger

1. Who was John Peter Zenger? John Peter Zenger, a German immigrant, was the one responsible for printing a publication called The New York Weekly Journal. This journal exposed the actions of William S. Cosby, who was a corrupt royal governor. In the article, the government was accused of allowing the French enemy to explore the New York harbor and of rigging political elections. Additionally, the governor was accused of a variety of crimes and essentially describing him as an idiot. Even though John Peter Zenger was only guilty of printing the articles, he was still dragged into jail. Although he was presented the opportunity to name the authors of the journal, he didn't end up doing it. The authors remained anonymous.    

2. What was the controversy over his charges? Talk about Hamilton's defense. Andrew Hamilton, the most popular lawyer in the colonies, admitted that John Zenger did in fact print the charges, and he sternly requested for the prosecution to prove them wrong. Hamilton begged for his new client's release after a sudden appeal to the jury. Andrew claimed, "It is not the cause of one poor printer, but the cause of liberty." The judge of the court in turn looked to the jury and demanded they convict Zenger of libel, or publishing information that opposes the government, if they truly believed he printed the stories. Less than ten minutes later, the jury filled with Zenger's peers overruled the conviction, with the final judgement declaring innocence.  


3. What influence did his case have on American governmental tradition? This case influenced governmental traditions in it's laws around the make up of a jury in court. In the Zenger trial, the prosecution's jury was replaced by peers of Zenger himself, giving him a biased system of back up so he could be ruled innocent. Nowadays, the potential jury members go through testing to detect any bias they might have towards the case. This way there is a fair trial held, with a very small possibility for any corruption to occur.     


4. What is the lasting significance of his trial? Explain. The lasting significance of his trial was the later implication of the First Amendment. The first amendment allowed true freedom of press, and permitted newspapers the ability to openly express their views.