Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger by Paul Finkelman - First Edition, 2010 from Macmillan Student Store

Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger

First  Edition©2010  Paul Finkelman

About

As one of the most significant publications of colonial America, Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger represents a major turning point in the history of freedom of the press and the political development of colonial America and the early republic. This text recounts Zenger's 1735 trial on charges of seditious libel and contains groundbreaking arguments by his attorney, Andrew Hamilton.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
A Note on the Text
 
PART ONE
Introduction:  Politics, the Press, and the Trial of John
  Peter Zenger
Governor William Cosby and New York Politics
John Peter Zenger, Political Printer
The Law of Seditious Libel
Cosby’s Response to the Weekly Journal
The Disbarment of Zenger’s Lawyers
The Trial of John Peter Zenger
A Political Precedent
In the Court of History
 
PART TWO
A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger,
  Printer of the NEW YORK WEEKLY JOURNAL
        Zenger the Printer and an Angry Governor
        Zenger’s Arrest and His Lawyers’ Disbarment
        A New Lawyer Prevents a Stacked Jury
        The Charges Against Zenger
        A Second New Lawyer Surprises the Court and Confuses
          the Prosecutor
        Asserting Truth as a Defense
        Hamilton’s Appeal to the Jury
        Hamilton’s Use of Precedent
        Concluding the Trial
        Honoring Hamilton
 
PART THREE
Related Documents
1.  New York Weekly Journal, An Essay on the Liberty of the
       Press, November 12 and 19, 1733
2.  New York Weekly Journal, Zenger’s “Criminal” Articles,
       December 17, 1733, and September 23, 1734
    A.  An Article Questioning Cosby’s Judgment in Foreign Affairs
    B.  The Middletown Letters
3.  New York Weekly Journal, An “Illegal” Attack on the
      Attorney General, January 28, 1734
4.  “Anglo-Americanus,” Response to the Zenger Narrative,
         July 20, 1737

APPENDIXES              
A Chronology of Events Related to the Case and Trial of
  John Peter Zenger
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index

Paul Finkelman

Paul Finkelman (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is the President of Gratz College in Greater Philadelphia. His many books include Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court; Civil War Congress and the Creation of Modern America; Lincoln, Congress, and Emancipation; Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson; Millard Fillmore; A March of Liberty: A Constitutional History of the United States, which he coauthored; and An Imperfect Union. For the Bedford Series in History and Culture he authored Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History with Documents and Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South: A Brief History with Documents.