“Freedom
of Expression in 18th-Century
America:
The Case of Peter Zenger, 1735”
Caroline Winterer, Department
of History
Stanford University
Caroline
Wintererlink
is Assistant Professor of History
at Stanford University. Educated
at University of Michigan, her
publications include: The
Culture of Classicism: Ancient
Greece and Rome in American
Intellectual Life, 1780–1910),
"From
Royal to Republican: The Classical
Image in Early America,"
Journal of American History,
91 (March 2005), 1264-90 and
The Ornaments of the Republic:
American Women and Classicism,
1750-1870 (forthcoming
from Cornell University Press,
2007)
Summary: Zenger’s
case is useful for understanding
the origins of the notion of
freedom of expression. Zenger
was a German-born printer who
published scathing criticisms
of New York governor William
Cosby. The New York council
ordered copies of his paper
burned and had Zenger arrested
on charges of seditious libel.
In the partisan conflicts of
the day, the jury sided with
Zenger and he was acquitted,
although for many years thereafter
libel laws continued to keep
a check on a free press.
Article: William Cosby Vs.
Lewis Morris (Zenger Trial):
A Chapter in the Struggle Between
Crown Appointees and the Local
Aristocracy for Political Control
in Colonial New York article
written by Jacob Judd, Professor
Emeritus of History at City
University of New York gives
his analysis of the role, if
any, played by the trial of
John Peter Zenger and the issue
of freedom of the press. http://www.sackheritagegroup.com/articles/articles.php?articleID=38
Katz, Stanley. A Brief
Narrative of the Case and Trial
of John Peter Zenger (Harvard,
1963) The
best encapsulation in a book,
also with documents. Katz argues
"Zenger and his associates,
it becomes clear, were neither
political democrats nor radical
legal reformers. They were,
in fact, a somewhat narrow-minded
political faction seeking immediate
political gain rather than long-term
governmental or legal reform.
Nor was the case itself a landmark
in the history of law or of
the freedom of the press…."link
to Amazon
Patricia U. Bonomi, A Factious
People: Politics and Society
in Colonial New York (Columbia,
1971) A
widely respected and cited history
of early New York. link
to Amazon
Hugh Amory and David Hall,
eds., The History of the Book
in America, vol 1.: The Colonial
Book in the Atlantic World (Cambridge,
2000), especially
ch. 10. Printing and books in
the colonial era link
to Amazon
