Home › NY Regents US History and Government › History › The Colonial Period › What verdict did the jury return in the libel tr…
What verdict did the jury return in the libel trial of Peter Zenger?
AA verdict of guilty
BNo verdict at all
CA verdict of contempt
DA verdict of not guilty
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. A verdict of not guilty
1. Zenger's weekly journal spoke for the opposition, and the governor had him jailed for libel.
2. Andrew Hamilton defended him and argued that what Zenger printed was true and so not libelous.
3. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty and Zenger went free.
4. That decision helped establish the principle of freedom of the press in America.
_Source: An Outline of American History (U.S. Information Agency, 1990, public domain), section THE PRESS ASSERTS ITS FREEDOM_
Related questions
In which two colonies was the self-government provision left out of the grant?How did colonial assemblies force appointed governors to bend to their will?Which New England colony did not follow Massachusetts in providing compulsory elementary eWhat kept the colonists building compactly along the coast for a hundred years?Why did New England colonists turn to mills, shipbuilding and the sea rather than to farmiWhat was the Mayflower Compact that the Pilgrims adopted aboard ship?What did the London Company instruct its Virginia governor to do in 1618?Why did no towns dot the Virginia tobacco country?