LAD/Blog #2: Peter Zenger

1.) Who was Peter Zenger?
Peter Zenger was a newspaper printer in New York who was accused of seditious libel by Governor Cosby. his case would shine a light on the protection of rights that were later evident when the U.S. created formal laws.

2.) What was the controversy over his trial?
The controversy was that despite two separate grand juries denying the governor's legal team an indictment his legal team was able to influence the court, consisting of his allies, to issue a warrant for Peter Zenger's arrest.

3.) What influence did his case have on the American governmental tradition?
There was no direct influence on the American governmental traditions, but the trial did influence how the American people viewed certain rights. The views that Americans held would later go on to impact American governmental traditions as seen through the U.S. Constitution.

4.) What is the lasting significance of his trial?
The trial demonstrated important aspects of the legal system, such as the role of a jury and the power that it holds even to this day.


I chose this picture because when I heard about Trump calling anything that he did not view in the right way in his mind of fake news it reminded me of how people have a legal right of freedom of speech. This means that they can call him for example a bad president but even though that is not what he wants to hear that doesn't make it fake news and people still have a right to view their opinions because we live in a democracy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LAD/Blog #31: Schenck v. United States

Image
During the Great War Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer thought that the draft violated the thirteenth amendment and they distributed pamphlets that declared their views. The pamphlets said that people should resist the draft peacefully. Schenck was accused of violating the Espionage Act by obstructing recruitment. Both Schenck and Baer were convicted of violating the Espionage Act and later tried appealing this ruling on the grounds of the first amendment. According to Oliver Wendell Holmes, the "clear and present danger test", he said the first amendment regarding freedom of speech is not protected as it approaches creating a clear and present danger of an evil that Congress can protect. He also compared their handing out of pamphlets to a person yelling "fire" in a public place, which is not permitted under the first amendment. Both Schenck v US and Brown v Board of Education were landmark supreme court cases in which the power of the supreme court was teste
Read more

LAD #39: Brown vs. Board of Education

Image
In 1896 the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that racially segregated public facilities were legal, so long as the facilities for whites and blacks were equal. This case became known for "separate but equal" and lasted for the next six decades. The Brown v. Board of Education was made up of four similar cases about school segregation that were all brought to the Supreme Court, where they were combined into a single case. On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal has no place in public education and that the plaintiffs were being deprived of equal protection under the 14th amendment. Although Brown v Board of Education did not lead directly to the desegregation of schools on its own, especially in the stubborn South as seen by the Little Rock Nine, it sparked the Civil Rights Movement.    In Brown v. Board of Education African Americans fought for the chance to be treated equally, a battle that began much before then, during Reconstruction.
Read more

LAD/Blog #34: FDR's First Inaugural

Image
President FDR gave the first of his four inaugural addresses on March 4, 1933. FDR entered his presidency with the American people at an all time low as a result of the Great Depression which caused suffering for people all across the country. Knowing this FDR began his speech by acknowledging these issues and saying that he would do his best to tackle those them head on. His main message to the people was that "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself". One of the problems he mentions is the fallen economy in which values shrunk, taxes rose and peoples means to pay had been severely limited.He acknowledges that one of the biggest issues in the country was unemployment and that to fix this the American people needed to be given to jobs.He also talks about the need for strict supervision on banking and credits and investments. His ideas for foreign policy dealt with his good neighbor policy where America needed to respect its neighbors. His speech concluded with asking t
Read more