8.21(B) describe the importance of free speech and press in a constitutional republic
John pETER zENGER
Freedom of the press became an important issue in colonial America. Newspapers in colonial cities, such as Boston and Philadelphia, carried political news and often faced government censorship. Censorship is the banning of printed materials because they contain unpopular or offensive ideas.
In 1733 publisher John Peter Zenger, in his newspaper the New-York Weekly Journal, accused New York's governor of corruption. For criticizing the governor, officials charged Zenger with a crime and threw him in jail. Zenger argued that the statements he had published about the governor were true. Therefore, he claimed, he had the right to publish them. Zenger's lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, made a stirring defense: "The loss of liberty in general would soon follow the suppression of the liberty of the press; for it is an essential branch of liberty, so perhaps it is the best preservative of the whole." —from The Trial of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of Freedom of the Press, by Doug Linder The jury found Zenger not guilty. The case is seen as a key step in the development of a free press in this country. |
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