Francis Foster

accountable to its readers and this idea evolves and changes over time it comes to England in Europe almost last but it it definitely flowers in the early 1600s in the in the Netherlands and in Germany and the Dutch settle and form a colony that they call New Amsterdam which is the modern city of New York

The Dutch ideas of the Rhine River tolerance come here.

And New York has been a decidedly wide open free market of ideas, opinions, and businesses for centuries as a result of the Dutch foundations of the city.

And by the way, Canal Street in downtown literally was a canal until they filled it in.

I mean, the Dutch...

Deep foundations of our culture are hidden, but still visible, especially things like, what is news?

And in the 1730s, there's a German immigrant from the Rhineland named John Peter Zenger.

And after apprenticing for a printer in Philadelphia, he moves to New York with his wife and opens a small newspaper

called the New York Journal.

And he begins publishing the news of the day.

And he publishes an account, which he says is true, of the royal governor of New York.

Remember, the Brits still rule in the 1730s, still rule New York.

And about corruption, self-dealing, failure to look after the public, his public duties.

What he has to say about the governor is less important than what happens next.

The governor cannot, under British law, directly jail him unless he accuses him of a crime.

And libel is a crime, which you can be in prison for this time.

So he's imprisoned and held for eight months before trial, which is one of the reasons why cases like this is why you have a right to be arraigned in a very specific amount of time under the U.S.

Constitution to this day, and why you have the right to a jury trial and so on.

So if you're imprisoned...

Your food in the 1730s in New York at this time has to be brought to you by your wife or friends of yours.