Hamilton’s words appealed to jurors who he knew had read and discussed the Journal’s punchy free speech advocacy lifted from Cato. After brief deliberations, the jury chose to acquit Zenger—“Upon which there were three Huzzas in the Hall, which was crowded with People.”39 The verdict was a milestone for press freedom in America. Legally, the common-law crime of seditious libel stood intact, with no defense of truth. But in practice, the act of jury nullification all but ended seditious libel prosecutions in colonial courts.
