Zenger, John Peter

Zenger, John Peter zĕng´ər [key], 1697–1746, American journalist, b. Germany. He emigrated to America in 1710 and was trained in the printing trade by the pioneer printer William布拉德福德. Zenger began publication of the New YorkWeekly Journalin 1733, an opposition paper to Bradford's New YorkGazetteand 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 AndrewHamilton, 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).

See biography by L. Rutherford (1904, repr. 1970); V. Buranelli, ed.,The Trial of Peter Zenger(1957, repr. 1985); R. Kluger,Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press(2016).

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