1. John Peter Zenger

2. Who: John Peter Zenger
What: Newspaper Printer charged with “Seditious libel” (slander)
When:
Where: New York City
Why: He wrote truths about the corrupt royal governor

3. John Peter Zenger He and his lawyer argued that they printed the truth
The royal chief justice told the jury not to consider the truth, find him guilty
The jury defied the judge and found Zenger not guilty
Roots of the 1st Amendment

4. A.P. Question (page 108B)The Zenger case is significant for
A. making sedition illegal.
B. establishing freedom of the press.
C. guaranteeing backcountry residents equal representation in colonial governments.
D. ensuring taxation through proper representation
E. linking voting rights and officeholding to property ownership.

5. NYS Regents Question
Court decisions in the trial of John Peter Zenger (1735) and the case of New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) strengthened
freedom of religion
freedom of the press
due process rights
the right to counsel

6. NYS Regents Question
“It is not the cause of one poor printer, nor of New York alone, which you are now trying. No! It may in its consequence affect every free man that lives under a British government on the main [continent] of America. It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty Nature and the laws of our country have given us a right to liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power (in these parts of the world at least) by speaking and writing the truth.” — Andrew Hamilton, 1735 This courtroom summation helped establish which democratic principle in colonial America?
trial by jury
equal voting rights
protection of private property
freedom of the press