John Peter Zenger | |
|---|---|
 Andrew Hamilton defending John Peter Zenger in court, 1734–1735 | |
| Born | October 26, 1697 |
| Died | July 28, 1746(1746-07-28) (aged 48) |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | Newspaper writer |
| Years active | 1720–1746 |
| Known for | Zenger trial |
| Notable work | The New York Weekly Journal |
John Peter Zenger(October 26, 1697 – July 28, 1746) was a German printer and journalist inNew York City. Zenger printedThe New York Weekly Journal.[1] He was accused oflibel in 1734 byWilliam Cosby, the royal governor ofNew York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol forfreedom of the press.[2]
In 1733, Zenger began printingThe New York Weekly Journal, which voiced opinions critical of the colonial governor, William Cosby.[3] On November 17, 1734, on Cosby's orders, the sheriff arrested Zenger. After agrand jury refused to indict him, the Attorney General Richard Bradley charged him with libel in August 1735.[4] Zenger's lawyers,Andrew Hamilton andWilliam Smith, Sr., successfully argued that truth is adefense against charges oflibel.[5]
Peter Zenger was born in 1697 in theGerman Palatinate. Most of the details of his early life are obscure. He was the son of Nicolaus Eberhard Zenger and his wife Johanna. His father was a school teacher inImpflingen in 1701. The Zenger family had other children baptized inRumbach in 1697 and in 1703[6]: 1202 and inWaldfischbach in 1706.[7] The Zenger family immigrated to New York in 1710 as part of a large group ofGerman Palatines, and Nicolaus Zenger was one of those who died before settlement.[6]: 1123 The governor of New York had agreed to provide apprenticeships for all the children of immigrants from thePalatinate, and John Peter was bound for eight years as an apprentice toWilliam Bradford, the first printer in New York.[8] By 1720, he was taking on printing work inMaryland, though he returned to New York permanently by 1722.[6]: 1124
When in 1725 William Bradford began publishing theNew York Gazette, the first and only newspaper in New York at the time, John Peter Zenger was directly responsible for its production and also became a partner in Bradford’s business.[9]
After a brief partnership with Bradford in 1725, Zenger set up as a commercial printer on Smith Street in New York City.[10] In 1730, Zenger published Peter Venema’sArithmetica, considered the first arithmetic text printed in New York. By 1731, his printing house on Smith Street had released 21 titles, while his main competitor and former employer, Bradford, had printed 50.[9]
On 28 May 1719, Zenger married Mary White in theFirst Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.[11] On 24 August 1722, widower Zenger marriedAnna Catharina Maul in the Collegiate Church, New York.[12] He was the father of many children by his second wife, six of whom survived.[13]
In 1733, Zenger printed copies of newspapers in New York to voice his disagreement with the actions of the newly appointed colonial governorWilliam Cosby. On his arrival in New York City, Cosby had plunged into a rancorous quarrel with the colony council over his salary, trying to recoup half of the salary of the previous acting governorRip Van Dam. Unable to control the colony's supreme court, which had ruled against Cosby in the dispute, Cosby removed Chief JusticeLewis Morris, replacing him with the royalist justiceJames DeLancey.[14] Supported by members of the Popular Party, Zenger'sNew-York Weekly Journal continued to publish articles critical of the royal governor. Finally, Cosby issued aproclamation condemning the newspaper's "divers scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections."[15]
Zenger was charged withlibel.James Alexander was Zenger's first counsel, but the court found him in contempt and disbarred him, removing him from the case. After more than eight months in prison, Zenger went to trial, defended by the Philadelphia lawyerAndrew Hamilton and the New York lawyerWilliam Smith, Sr. The case was now acause célèbre, with the public interest at fever-pitch. Rebuffed repeatedly by chief justice James DeLancey during the trial, Hamilton decided to plead his client's case directly to the jury. After the lawyers for both sides finished their arguments on August 5, 1735, the jury retired only to return in ten minutes with a verdict of not guilty,[16][17][18] a famous example ofjury nullification.
In defending Zenger in this landmark case, Hamilton and Smith attempted to establish the precedent that a statement, even if defamatory, is not libelous if it can be proved, thus affirmingfreedom of the press in America; however, succeeding royal governors clamped down on freedom of the press until theAmerican Revolution. This case is the groundwork of freedom of the press, not its legal precedent.[3] As late as 1804, the journalistHarry Croswell lost a series of prosecutions and appeals because truth wasnot a defense against libel, as decided by theNew York Supreme Court inPeople v. Croswell. It was only the following year that the assembly, reacting to this verdict, passed a law that allowed truth as a defense against a charge of libel.[19]
In the February 25, 1733 issue ofThe New York Weekly Journal[20] an opinion piece was written under thepseudonym "Cato." This was a pen-name used by British writersJohn Trenchard andThomas Gordon, whose essays were published asCato's Letters (1723). Jeffery A. Smith writes that "Cato" was "The leading luminary of the 18th century libertarian press theory...Editions ofCato's Letters were published and republished for decades in Britain and were immensely popular in America."[21] This article gave its readers a preview of the same argument attorneys Hamilton and Smith presented 18 months later in the government's libel case against Zenger – that truth is an absolute defense against libel. The words are reprinted from Cato's essay "Reflections Upon Libelling":
A libel is not less the libel for being true...But this doctrine only holds true as to private and personal failings; and it is quite otherwise when the crimes of men come to affect the publick…Machiavel says, Calumny is pernicious, but accusation beneficial, to a state; and he shews instances where states have suffered or perished for not having, or for neglecting, the power to accuse great men who were criminals, or thought to be so…surely it cannot be more pernicious to calumniate even good men, than not to be able to accuse ill ones.[22]
Zenger died in New York on July 28, 1746, at the age of 48 years old with his wife continuing his printing business.[8]
During World War II, theLiberty shipSS Peter Zenger was named in his honor.[23]
Zenger was a Madison, Wisconsin basedunderground newspaper that operated during the late 20th century.[24][25][26]
Zenger News is awire service owned and operated by journalists.[27]
A ten foot high limestone statue of John Peter Zenger is mounted on the brick wall of P.S. 18 in the Bronx in New York City. The sculpture was created by sculptorJoseph Kiselewski.[28]
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