Biography of john peter zenger

Printer, journalist and defender of freedom of the press in early America (1697–1746)

John Peter Zenger (October 26, 1697 – July 28, 1746) was a German printer and journalist in New York City.

Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal.^[1] He was accused of libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of New York, but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for freedom of the press.^[2]

In 1733, Zenger began printing The 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 a grand jury refused to indict him, the Attorney General Richard Bradley charged him with libel in August 1735.^[4] Zenger's lawyers, Andrew Hamilton and William Smith, Sr., successfully argued that truth is a defense against charges of libel.^[5]

Early life

Peter Zenger was born in 1697 in the Germa