John Peter Zenger

John Peter Zenger , 1697-1746, American journalist, b. Germany. He emigrated to America in 1710 and was trained as a printer by William Bradford (1663-1752). Zenger began publication of the New York Weekly Journal in 1733, an opposition paper to Bradford's New York Gazette and to the policies of Gov. William Cosby. Zenger's newspaper, backed by several prominent lawyers and merchants, truculently attacked the administration. Although most of the articles were written by Zenger's backers, Zenger was legally responsible and was arrested on libel charges and imprisoned (1734). In the celebrated trial that followed (1735) Zenger was defended by Andrew Hamilton , who established truth as a defense in cases of libel. The trial, which resulted in the publisher's acquittal, helped to establish freedom of the press in America. Zenger later became public printer for the colonies of New York (1737) and New Jersey (1738).

Bibliography: See biography by L. Rutherford (1904, repr. 1970); V. Buranelli, ed., The Trial of Peter Zenger (1957, repr. 1985).

Zenger, John Peter (1697–1746), Germanborn printer and journalist in New York, served as an apprentice to William Bradford, and established the New‐York Weekly Journal (1733) to oppose Bradford's New York Gazette and assail the administration of the provincial governor. His polemical articles and rhymes caused him to be arrested and tried for criminal libel (1735). Despite the opposition of the judge, the jury found him not guilty, and his acquittal has been considered instrumental in establishing American freedom of the press. He published a verbatim account of the trial as A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger (1736), and continued to edit the Journal until his death.