John Peter Zenger Case

John Peter Zenger was born on October 26,1697 in Rhine country of Germany called the Palatinate. He was a German American printer. John was married to Anna Catherina Maulin. They got married in 1722 and they were married until 1746. John Peter Zenger died on July 28,1746. John’s nationality was American German. He was known for the Zenger case. In 1711 Zenger was apprenticed for 8 years to William Bradford one of the pioneers of American printing (ushistory.org). When he completed his apprenticeship, Zenger moved to Chestertown, Maryland, to make his own living. Though he was named to print the session laws of the legislature, he apparently did not prosper there and in Maulin 1722 returned to New York. For a short time, he entered a partnership with Bradford, then in 1726 again started his own business. The colony of New York was faction-ridden.
A brief period of internal peace ended with the arrival in 1732 of the new governor William
Cosby who wished to use the post to enhance his own fortunes. On November 5, 1733 the New-York Weekly journal appeared. It was not printed well and Zenger’s English was poor. As a publisher john was responsible for what appeared in the journal. John Peter Zenger was a German immigrant who printed the New York weekly journal. This publication harshly pointed out the actions of the corrupt royal governor, William s. Cosby. It accused the government of rigging elections and allowing the French to explore New York harbor. It accused the governor of a lot of crimes. Zenger was hauled into jail. John would not name the authors. In 1733 john was accused of libel. Libel a legal term whose meaning is quite different for us today than it was for him. Back then it was libel when you published information that was opposed to the government. John never denied printing those pieces. Zenger’s wife anna kept the press rolling her reports resulted in the replacement of Cosby’s jury with a true jury of Zenger’s peers.
When the trial began, a stir fluttered through the courtroom.
Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia stepped up to defend Zenger. Hamilton admitted that Zenger printed the charges and demanded the prosecution to prove them false. The judge told the jury to convict Zenger if they believed he printed the stories. Thy returned with the verdict of not guilty. Zenger and Hamilton were hailed as hero’s.
Another building block of liberty was in place. Although freedom of press wasn’t known until the first amendment, newspaper publishers felt free to print their honest view. John Peter Zenger American printer, was selected to print a weekly newspaper by a group of men opposed to a governor of New York. Zenger was charged with libel and acquitted. The case has forever associated his name with the cause of freedom of speech and of the press in America. Zenger’s case established freedom of press before the first amendment was established. He gave publishers the courage to print freely. Zenger is known throughout history for his act of
printing.