John Peter Zenger

John Peter Zenger (October 26, 1697 – July 28, 1746) was a German American printer, publisher, editor, and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal. He was a defendant in a landmark legal case in American jurisprudence, known as the Zenger Trial. His lawyers, Andrew Hamilton and William Smith, Sr., successfully argued that truth is a defense against charges of libel.

In late 1733, Zenger began printing The New York Weekly Journal, in which he voiced opinions critical of the colonial governor, William Cosby. On November 17, 1734, On Cosby's orders, the sheriff arrested Zenger. After a grand jury refused to indict him, the attorney general Richard Bradley charged him with libel in August of 1735.

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