Please see the complete question below.
"It is not the cause of one poor printer, nor of New York alone, which you are now trying. No! It may in its consequence affect every free man that lives under a British government on the main [continent] of America. It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty. . . . Nature and the laws of our country have given us a right to liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power (in these parts of the world at least) by speaking and writing the truth." — Andrew Hamilton, 1735 This courtroom summation helped establish which democratic principle in colonial America?
1.trial by jury
2.equal voting rights
3.protection of private property
4.freedom of the press
Answer:
The Answer is option (4) Freedom of the press.
Explanation:
To begin with, Freedom of the press is one of the fundamental rights of a democratic society. It helps various electronic and printed media especially newspaper and magazines to report news without fear of being restricted, controlled or censored by the government.
This right or democratic principle was helped established by a lawyer Andrew Hamilton in 1735 while he was defending a newspaper publisher called John Peter Zenger. The publisher was charged with Libel simply because he published criticism of the government.
Defending the publisher, Andrew Hamilton put up a long speech (that includes the court summation in this question) arguing that true statements of criticisms should not be considered as libel. He was able to make the judge and jury agree to his argument that truth is a defense against accusations of libel.
