John Peter Zenger, publisher
- Artist/Author/Producer John Peter Zenger
- Confronting Bodies British Government
- Dates of action 1735
- Location Colonial America
- Description of the Art Work
- John Peter Zenger was a libertarian who published the newspaper ,The
New York Weekly Journal, a newspaper in direct opposition to the
government paper, the New York Weekly Gazette. The newspaper published
articles concerned with the government and liberty of the press.
The issues the British Government were concerned with were described
"as having in them many things tending to raise seditions and tumults
among the people of this province, and to fill their minds with contempt
for his majesty's government."
- Description of incident
- "...In October 1734 a committee was appointed to investigate
Zenger's newspaper and to look into the charges of seditious libel that
had been alleged against it. The committee found numbers 7,47, 48, and
49, which contained (a reprinted article on the liberty of the press), to
be libelous as charged and ordered them to be burned. Zenger was arrested
and jailed."The Encyclopedia of Censorship, Jonathon Green, Pg. 365
Zenger's was represented in the trial by defense attorney Andrew
Hamilton and James Alexander, founder of the American Philosophical
Society. Alexander was thought to be one of the first colonial writers to
develop a true philosophy on the freedom of the press and speech.
Their basic argument "Truth ought govern the whole affair of libels"
coupled with the growing distrust of the British Government enabled them
to persuade the jury to return a verdict of not guilty.
- Results of incident
-
The Zenger case was one of the last of its kind to be held before
the American Revolution. The case set a precedent for many trials to come
concerning freedom of the press and speech. Alexander went on to write on
the Zenger Case, A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter
Zenger(1736), which stood as a model for libertarian thought in the 18th
century and was used widely by defendants of freedom of speech in Britain
and America.
As eloquently put by Alexander in one his texts:
"Freedom of speech is a principal pillar in a free government:
when this
support is taken away, the constitution is dissolved and
tyranny erected on its ruins."
Source: The First Freedom Today, R. Downs, ALA,Chicago, 1984 Pg.5