John Peter Zenger
1697 – 1746 German-American printer, journalist
New York printer whose 1735 acquittal for seditious libel became a landmark for press freedom in America.
- Religion
- Protestant.
- Affiliations
- The New York Weekly Journal.
John Peter Zenger emigrated from the German Palatinate to New York and printed the New York Weekly Journal, which criticized the colonial governor. Tried for seditious libel in 1735, he was acquitted by a jury persuaded that truth was a defense, a case long celebrated as an early victory for freedom of the press in America.
In the timeline
- 1735 The Zenger trial and the seed of press freedom mentioned