What was the significance of John Peter Zenger's trial?

Answer 1

On August 5, 1735, twelve New York jurors, inspired by the eloquence of the best lawyer of the period, Andrew Hamilton, ignored the instructions of the Governor's hand-picked judges and returned a verdict of "Not Guilty" on the charge of publishing "seditious libels." The Zenger trial is a remarkable story of a divided Colony, the beginnings of a free press, and the stubborn independence of American jurors.

The Zenger trial established no new law with respect to seditious libel, but in unmistakable terms it signalled the public's opposition to such prosecutions. Concern about likely jury nullification discouraged prosecutions, and press freedom in America began to blossom. A half-century after the Zenger trial, as members of the First Congress debated the proposed Bill of Rights, one of the Constitution's principal drafters and great-grandson of Lewis Morris, Governor Morris, would write of the Zenger case: "The trial of Zenger in 1735 was the germ of American freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America."

Answer 2

Zenger was charged with libel and sedition in 1735, based on articles written about New York governor William Cosby. The subsequent trial proved that what Zenger had written was, in fact, true, and paved the way for our modern libel laws.