Answer:
The history of libel in American can be traced directly to one man: John Peter Zenger.
(Libel is printed material that is known to be false. It usually involves verbal attacks on people, usually public figures like government officials or celebrities.)
Zenger was a printer, the publisher of the New York Weekly Journal. He stood accused of printing comments that were critical of the British governor of New York, William Cosby. Zenger began publishing his newspaper in late 1733. The following year (November 17, 1734), he was arrested and thrown in jail. The charge was libel.
Now, the laws prohibiting libel at that time meant that you couldn't print anything bad about the government or you'd be arrested. Zenger was publishing words that were critical of Governor Cosby, and the governor didn't like it. So he had Zenger arrested and thrown in jail.
The young printer sat in jail for eight months until his case came to trial. Interest in the case grew and grew, with both sides taking a keen interest. Finally, Zenger got a chance to have his say in court.
The case wasn't without legal twists and turns. Zenger had first been represented by two attorneys, James Alexander and William Smith. They had been unsuccessful at getting reduced the bail that Zenger had been assigned. Zenger couldn't afford it and had no way of raising the funds, so he languished in jail until the court set a date for his arraignment. That came in April 1735. It was at that arraignment that Zenger's attorneys challenged the validity of the appointment of the Chief Justice, James DeLancey. The court's response was to remove Alexander and Smith from the case. Faced with having no representation, Zenger asked the court ot provide a new lawyer. The court did so, naming as Zenger's new counsel a young lawyer named John Chambers.
Chambers was Zenger's attorney when the case went to trial, beginning on August 4. But by that time, Zenger's friends had also found him another attorney, the famous Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia. Hamilton saw a way to make a name for himself and for his client. He also saw a way to change the face of law forever in America. His strategy: argue that it wasn't libel if it was true.
Governor Cosby and his men didn't do much to dispute what Zenger had printed in his newspaper; rather, they just had him arrested for printing it. But in the trial, Hamilton argued that a man couldn't be arrested for printing the truth. Why, this was freedom of the press, Hamilton argued.
Explanation:
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