Page:History of Journalism in the United States.djvu/71

CHAPTER V

PRINTING IN NEW YORK—THE ZENGER TRIAL

Early political divisions—Oppression by the Conquerors—Foundation for the Whig party—William Bradford invited to the colony—New York Gazette, the first paper—Maladministration of Governor Cosby—Zenger brings out the Journal—Attacks government—His arrest and trial—Andrew Hamilton's great speech—Its importance in the history of the country.

While the printing press did not appear in New York Colony until some years after there had been presses in Massachusetts—and even in Pennsylvania, a colony settled after New York—there was, in the Dutch settlement, greater encouragement for a free press than in either of the other two, at least in the beginning. This was partly due to the fact that, when the Dutch colony had been taken over by the English, there had grown up two parties more equally divided than was the case in any of the other colonies—parties divided somewhat as the Whigs and the Tories later were. The governing class was arrogant, inasmuch as the government represented the conquerors; on the other hand, the governed class in the colony of New York, representing some of the rich burghers and old Dutch families, was not as docile as the laboring and governed class of other colonies. Having been, in former days, the rulers of the colony, and therefore accustomed to public discussion, its members were quick to use the printing press to air their grievances.