According to the Constitution’s First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right for the people to peaceable assemble for a redress of grievances,” (U.S. Const. amend. I). Abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press is really another way of saying the press has the freedom to print what they want, as long as it is true. People sometimes ponder on why this is apart of the First Amendment, it was not just thrown in for fun, there is a very specific reason on why it was added into the Constitution. If it were not for John Peter Zenger, freedom of the press might not even have made it into the First Amendment at all. His trial also established the principle of actual malice; meaning it is written false information, and damaging to the party it was written about. While Zenger’s trial was monumental step toward the First Amendment, others tend to believe it was actually John Milton and
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Zenger’s case sparked a rebellion among the colonists, which eventually led to them fighting for their freedom in the American Revolution; which the colonists kept in mind as they were fighting for their independence. According to an article written by Linder (2001), throughout Zenger’s trial, the people of New York either chose to side with the governor, William Cosby, or with Zenger and his newspaper, The Journal. (p. 1). In the 15th edition of The American Pageant written by Kennedy and Cohen (2013), Zenger claimed his writing to be accurate, although the jury was still able to convict Zenger no matter if the article was true or not. The judge was also able to persuade the jury to convict the jury not to convict on the grounds of publication alone (p.
Zenger’s case sparked a rebellion among the colonists, which eventually led to them fighting for their freedom in the American Revolution; which the colonists kept in mind as they were fighting for their independence. According to an article written by Linder (2001), throughout Zenger’s trial, the people of New York either chose to side with the governor, William Cosby, or with Zenger and his newspaper, The Journal. (p. 1). In the 15th edition of The American Pageant written by Kennedy and Cohen (2013), Zenger claimed his writing to be accurate, although the jury was still able to convict Zenger no matter if the article was true or not. The judge was also able to persuade the jury to convict the jury not to convict on the grounds of publication alone (p.