View source for John Peter Zenger

{{short description|Printer, journalist and defender of freedom of the press in early America (1697–1746)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = John Peter Zenger
| image              = John Peter Zenger trial.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Andrew Hamilton defending John Peter Zenger in court, 1734–1735
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = October 26, 1697
| birth_place        = [[Impflingen]], or [[Rumbach]]<br/>[[Palatinate (region)|Rhenish Palatinate]]<!--territory may fall either in [[Province of Alsace]], Kingdom of france, or [[Palatine Zweibrücken]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]-->
| death_date         = {{death-date and age|July 28, 1746|October 26, 1697}}
| death_place        = [[New York City|New York]], [[Province of New York]]
| citizenship        = British
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Newspaper writer
| years_active       = 1720&ndash;1746
| known_for          = Zenger trial
| notable_works      = ''[[The New York Weekly Journal]]''
}}
[[File:29-THE FAMOUS ZENGER TRIAL.jpg|thumb|The trial, as imagined by an illustrator in the 1883 book ''Wall Street in History'']]

'''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]]''.<ref name=USH>{{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/us/7c.asp|title=7c. The Trial of John Peter Zenger|website=US History|access-date=October 24, 2012}}</ref> He was accused of [[Defamation|libel]] in 1734 by [[William Cosby]], the royal governor of [[Province of New York|New York]], but the jury acquitted Zenger, who became a symbol for [[freedom of the press]].<ref>[[#olsen2000|Olsen, 2000]], pp. 223–245</ref>

In 1733, Zenger began printing ''[[The New York Weekly Journal]]'', which voiced opinions critical of the colonial governor, William Cosby.<ref name=early>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/bookmarks/zenger/|title=Peter Zenger and Freedom of the Press|website=Early America|access-date=October 24, 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historyempire.com/zenger-trial/|title=Zenger Trial|website=History Empire|access-date=November 18, 2012|archive-date=3 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203043009/http://historyempire.com/zenger-trial/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Zenger's lawyers, [[Andrew Hamilton (lawyer)|Andrew Hamilton]] and [[William Smith (judge, born 1697)|William Smith, Sr.]], successfully argued that truth is a [[defense (legal)|defense]] against charges of [[libel]].<ref>{{cite magazine |author-link=Scott Horton (attorney)|last=Horton |first=Scott |date= 28 February 2011 |url=http://harpers.org/archive/2011/02/hbc-90008006 |title=The Obstinate Dr. Heicklen |magazine=Harper's Magazine }}</ref>

==Early life==
Peter Zenger was born in 1697 in the [[Palatinate (region)|German 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 in [[Impflingen]] in 1701. The Zenger family had other children baptized in [[Rumbach]] in 1697 and in 1703<ref name=pfny>{{cite book |author-link=Henry Z Jones, Jr.|last=Jones |first=Henry Z Jr. |title=The Palatine Families of New York 1710 |location= Universal City, CA |date=1985|isbn=9780961388829}}</ref>{{rp|1202}} and in [[Waldfischbach]] in 1706.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Henry Z Jones, Jr.|last=Jones |first=Henry Z Jr. |title=More Palatine Families |location=Universal City, CA |date=1991 |page=381|isbn=9780897253949}}</ref> The Zenger family immigrated to New York in 1710 as part of a large group of [[German Palatines]], and Nicolaus Zenger was one of those who died before settlement.{{r|pfny|page1=1123}} The governor of New York had agreed to provide apprenticeships for all the children of immigrants from the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]], and John Peter was bound for eight years as an apprentice to [[William Bradford (Colonial printer)|William Bradford]], the first printer in New York.<ref name=imm>{{cite web |last=Keene |first=Ann T. |url=http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=8 |title=John Peter Zenger |website=Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present |date=2013 |publisher=German Historical Institute}}</ref> By 1720, he was taking on printing work in [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], though he returned to New York permanently by 1722.{{r|pfny|page1=1124}} 

When in 1725 William Bradford began publishing the ''[[New-York Gazette|New 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Dwornik |first=Małgorzata |date=2024-04-29 |title=John Peter Zenger. The Story of the First Fighter for Freedom of Speech |url=https://reporterzy.info/en/4629,john-peter-zenger-the-story-of-the-first-fighter-for-freedom-of-speech |work=Reporterzy.info |language=en |issn=2544-5839}}</ref>

After a brief partnership with Bradford in 1725, Zenger set up as a commercial printer on Smith Street in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |title=The New York Weekly Journal and the Arrest of John Peter Zenger |url=https://www.nps.gov/feha/learn/historyculture/the-new-york-weekly-journal-and-the-arrest-of-john-peter-zenger.htm |website=Federal Hall |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> In 1730, Zenger published Peter Venema’s ''Arithmetica'', 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.<ref name=":0" />

On 28 May 1719, Zenger married Mary White in the [[First Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia)|First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia]].<ref>Presbyterian Historical Society; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Church Registers; Book Title: Church Register 1701–1746; Accession Number: V MI46 P477rr v.1.</ref> On 24 August 1722, widower Zenger married [[Anna Catharina Zenger|Anna Catharina Maul]] in the Collegiate Church, New York.<ref>The Archives of the Reformed Church in America; New Brunswick, New Jersey; Collegiate Church, Ecclesiastical Records, Baptisms, Members, Marriages, 1639–1774.</ref> He was the father of many children by his second wife, six of whom survived.<ref>[https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=8 Keene, A. (2013, February 12). John Peter Zenger. Retrieved March 05, 2018]</ref>

==Libel case ==
[[File:1733 NYWeeklyJournal Jan7.png|thumb|A page from Zenger's ''New-York Weekly Journal'', 7 January 1733]]
 
In 1733, Zenger printed copies of newspapers in New York to voice his disagreement with the actions of the newly appointed colonial governor [[William 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 governor [[Rip Van Dam]]. Unable to control the colony's supreme court, which had ruled against Cosby in the dispute, Cosby removed Chief Justice [[Lewis Morris (governor)|Lewis Morris]], replacing him with the royalist justice [[James DeLancey]].<ref>National Park Service. "Intrigue on the Village Green: The Election of 1733 at St. Paul's." [https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/intrigue-on-the-village-green-the-election-of-1733-at-st-paul-s.htm]</ref> Supported by members of the Popular Party, Zenger's ''[[The New York Weekly Journal|New-York Weekly Journal]]'' continued to publish articles critical of the royal governor. Finally, Cosby issued a [[proclamation]] condemning the newspaper's "divers scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections."<ref>Hudson, Frederic. (1873) [https://archive.org/details/journalisminunit00huds/page/82 <!-- quote="divers scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections". --> Journalism in the United States, from 1690–1872]. Forgotten Books. p. 82.</ref>

Zenger was charged with [[libel]]. [[James Alexander (lawyer)|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 lawyer [[Andrew Hamilton (lawyer)|Andrew Hamilton]] and the New York lawyer [[William Smith (judge, born 1697)|William Smith, Sr.]] The case was now a ''[[cause 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,<ref>[[#pasley2003|Pasley, 2003]], pp. 30–31</ref><ref>[[#levy1960|Levy, 1960]], p. 43</ref><ref>[[#lawson1914|Lawson, 1914]], p. viii</ref> a famous example of [[Jury nullification in the United States#In practice|jury 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 affirming [[freedom of the press]] in America; however, succeeding royal governors clamped down on freedom of the press until the [[American Revolution]]. This case is the groundwork of freedom of the press, not its legal precedent.<ref name=early/> As late as 1804, the journalist [[Harry Croswell]] lost a series of prosecutions and appeals because truth was ''not'' a defense against libel, as decided by the [[New York Court of Appeals|New York Supreme Court]] in ''[[People 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.<ref>[[#levy1960|Levy, 1960]], p. 38</ref>

==="Cato" article===
In the February 25, 1733 issue of ''[[The New York Weekly Journal]]''<ref>Although this issue of Zenger's newspaper is dated 1733, the actual year was 1734.  At the time, Britain and the colonies used a [[Old Style and New Style dates|calendar system]] wherein January, February and part of March retained the preceding year's date. This system was eliminated in the 1750s.</ref> is an opinion piece written under the [[pseudonym]] "Cato."  This was a pen-name used by British writers [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]] and [[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]], whose essays were published as ''[[Cato's Letters]]'' (1723). Jeffery A. Smith writes that "Cato" was "The leading luminary of the 18th century libertarian press theory...Editions of ''Cato's Letters'' were published and republished for decades in Britain and were immensely popular in America."<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jeffery |title=Printers and Press Freedom: The Ideology of Early American Journalism |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1990 |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjzVBiWwSogC&pg=PA25 |isbn=9780195362367}}</ref> 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":

{{blockquote|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://classicliberal.tripod.com/cato/letter032.html |title=Reflections Upon Libelling |last=Gordon |first=Thomas |date=June 10, 1721 |website=Classical Liberals |access-date=September 30, 2016}}</ref>}}

==Death==
Zenger died in New York on July 28, 1746, at the age of 48 years old with his wife continuing his printing business.<ref name=imm/>

==Legacy and honors==
During World War II, the [[Liberty ship]] {{SS|Peter Zenger}} was named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Greg H. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A5oWBAAAQBAJ |title= The Liberty Ships of World War II: A Record of the 2,710 Vessels and Their Builders, Operators and Namesakes, with a History of the Jeremiah O'Brien |date= 25 July 2014 |publisher= McFarland |isbn= 978-1476617541 |access-date= 7 December 2017}}</ref>

''[[Zenger]]'' was a Madison, Wisconsin based [[Underground press|underground newspaper]] that operated during the late 20th century.<ref name="Report">{{cite web | url=http://druglibrary.net/olsen/NORML/QCHC/quad12.html | title=Hempsters demonstrate against the war on drugs | work=Rally Report | date=July 27, 1996 | author=Getman, James}}</ref><ref name="Temple">{{cite web | url=http://www.skeptictank.org/treasure/SUBGEN/HTOMC.029 | title=Zines and Things from the depths of the Sacred PO Box | work=Holy Temple of Mass Consumption News, Issue #29 | date=1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027234744/http://www.skeptictank.org/treasure/SUBGEN/HTOMC.029 |archive-date=October 27, 2012}}</ref><ref name="TalkLeft">{{cite web | url=http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/6/2/01033/72347/Diary/June-14-1978-FBI-and-anti-abortion-terrorism | title=June 14, 1978: FBI and anti-abortion terrorism | work=TalkLeft | date=June 1, 2009 | author=Masel, Ben}}</ref>

Zenger News is a [[news agency|wire service]] owned and operated by journalists.<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.zenger.news/about-us/ |website=Zenger News |publisher=Z News Service, Inc. |access-date=February 19, 2023}}</ref>

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 sculptor [[Joseph Kiselewski]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sculpture |url=https://www.kiselewskisculpture.com/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Joseph Kiselewski |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Early American publishers and printers]]
* ''[[Areopagitica]]''
* [[Federal Hall]]
* [[Freedom of the press]]
* [[Freedom of speech in the United States]]
* ''[[United States defamation law#People v. Croswell|People v. Croswell]]''
* [[Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site]]
* ''[[The New York Weekly Journal]]''

==Bibliography==
{{further|&nbsp;Bibliography of early American publishers and printers}}
* {{cite book | vauthors=((Burrows, E. G.)), ((Wellace, M.)) | year=1998 | title=Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 | publisher=Oxford University Press | chapter=Chapter 11: Recession, Revival, and Rebellion | isbn=978-0-19-511634-2}}
* Copeland, David. "The Zenger Trial." ''Media Studies Journal'' 14#2 (2000): 2–7.
* Covert, Cathy. "'Passion Is Ye Prevailing Motive': The Feud Behind the Zenger Case." ''Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly'' (1973) 50#1 pp: 3–10.
* Eldridge, Larry D. "Before Zenger: Truth and Seditious Speech in Colonial America, 1607–1700." ''American Journal of Legal History'' (1995): 337-358. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/845791 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book |last=Lawson |first=John Davidson |title=American state trials |volume= XVI|authorlink= |publisher=St. Louis : Thomas Law Books |year=1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanstatetri16laws |ref=lawson1914 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Levy |first=Leonard W.  |title=Did the Zenger Case Really Matter? Freedom of the Press in Colonial New York  |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly  |pages=35–50 |publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture  |volume=17 |issue=1 |date=January 1960  |jstor=1943478  |doi=  10.2307/1943478|ref=levy1960}}
* Levy, Leonard Williams, ed. ''Freedom of the press from Zenger to Jefferson: early American libertarian theories'' (Irvington Publishers, 1966)
* {{cite journal |last=Olsen |first=Alison |title=The Zenger Case Revisited: Satire, Sedition and Political Debate in Eighteenth Century America |pages=223–245 |journal=Early American Literature |volume=35 |issue=3 |doi=10.1353/eal.2000.0009 |s2cid=153329184 |publisher=University of Maryland |year=2000 |url= https://muse.jhu.edu/article/9684 |ref=olsen2000|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Pasley |first=Jeffrey L.  |title="The tyranny of printers" : newspaper politics in the early American republic |publisher=Charlottesville ; London : University Press of Virginia |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8139-21891 |url=https://archive.org/details/tyrannyofprinter00jeff |ref=pasley2003 }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Levy  |first=Leonard W. |title=Did the Zenger Case Really Matter? Freedom of the Press in Colonial New York |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |pages=35–60 |publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |volume=17 |issue=1 |date=January 1960  |jstor=1943478  |doi=  10.2307/1943478|ref=levy1960}}

==Primary sources==
*''[https://archive.org/details/johnpeterzengerh00ruthuoft John Peter Zenger; his press, his trial, and a bibliography of Zenger imprints ... also a reprint of the first edition of the trial ]'' by Livingston Rutherfurd, New York : Dodd, Mead & company, 1904
*''[https://archive.org/details/tryalofjohnpeter00zeng The tryal of John Peter Zenger, of New-York, printer, who was lately try'd and acquitted for printing and publishing a libel against the government: with the pleadings and arguments on both sides]'' London : Printed for J. Wilford 1738

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2025/06/30/the-zenger-trial-and-seeds-of-the-american-revolution/ ''The Zenger Trial and Seeds of The American Revolution'', Emerging Revolutionary War by Eric Wiser]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070609111910/http://www.historybuff.com/library/refzenger.html Historybuff.com] First report of the trial
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100828034614/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/zenger/zenger.html Zenger Trial]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041214225654/http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/Z/Zenger-J.html John Peter Zenger]
*[https://history.nycourts.gov/case/crown-v-zenger/ ''The Crown v. Zenger'']
*[http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/zenger.html ''Considering Zenger: Partisan Politics and the Legal Profession in Provincial New York''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423042634/http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/zenger.html |date=23 April 2020 }}
*[http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/bookmarks/zenger/ "Peter Zenger and Freedom of the Press | Early American Bookmarks"]
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Zenger, John Peter|year=1889 |short=x}}
*{{OL author|31643A}}
*{{gutenberg|no=54836|name=The Trial of Peter Zenger}} (1957 book, edited by Vincent Buranelli)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenger, John Peter}}
[[Category:1697 births]]
[[Category:1746 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century American newspaper publishers (people)]]
[[Category:18th-century American journalists]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:Printers from the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:German emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:German Palatines]]
[[Category:People from Südliche Weinstraße]]
[[Category:People from the Province of New York]]
[[Category:Journalists from New York City]]
[[Category:Journalists from the Thirteen Colonies]]