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'''Debate''':  What, if anything, is precisely wrong about having witch trials?

'''Debate''':  What, if anything, is precisely wrong about having witch trials?

1700-1750:  [[salutary neglect]].  Colonies during this time were very different from each other.  The same is true today with respect to homeschooling.  If we were holding this class just 50 miles west in Pennsylvania, each of us would have to register each year with our school district, take tests, and follow a state curriculum.  But we do not have to do any of that in New Jersey.

== Salutary Neglect and the Zenger Trial ==

Freedoms in the colonies varied widely also.  In the colony of New York, for example, [[John Peter Zenger]] got in big trouble for publishing something critical of the governor.  The New York governor demanded that Zenger be prosecuted and thrown in jail for criticizing him.  Zenger was put on trial.  On the first day of the trial, a good defense attorney from Philadelphia appeared to defend Zenger for free.  The defense attorney argued to the jury that it should not be a crime to say something that is true, even though it may embarrass the governor.  The judge told the jury that the law says that can be a crime called “libel”.  But the jury ignored the law and held in favor of Zenger:  “not guilty.”  This case established the very important right unique to America:  the right of freedom of the press.  To this day we have that right in America, but those in England do not have this right.<ref>"Known as the 'libel capital of the world' because of its plaintiff-friendly rules on defamation, Britain has nothing remotely comparable to the First Amendment's protections for freedom of the press."[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20030317.html]</ref>

 

During this time period the colonies during this time were very different from each other.  Freedoms in the colonies varied widely.   

 

In the colony of New York, for example, [[John Peter Zenger]] got in big trouble for publishing something critical of the governor.  The New York governor demanded that Zenger be prosecuted and thrown in jail for criticizing him.  Zenger was put on trial.  On the first day of the trial, a good defense attorney from Philadelphia appeared to defend Zenger for free.  The defense attorney argued to the jury that it should not be a crime to say something that is true, even though it may embarrass the governor.  The judge told the jury that the law says that can be a crime called “libel”.  But the jury ignored the law and held in favor of Zenger:  “not guilty.”  This case established the very important right unique to America:  the right of freedom of the press.  To this day we have that right in America, but those in England do not have this right.<ref>"Known as the 'libel capital of the world' because of its plaintiff-friendly rules on defamation, Britain has nothing remotely comparable to the First Amendment's protections for freedom of the press."[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20030317.html]</ref>

The case helped convince Americans of the importance of the right to a jury trial, which was later written into our Constitution.

The case helped convince Americans of the importance of the right to a jury trial, which was later written into our Constitution.

'''Debate''': Do you think a jury should be able to ignore the law in order to find a defendant “not guilty”?

'''Debate''': Do you think a jury should be able to ignore the law in order to find a defendant “not guilty”?

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'''1730-1740:  The Great Awakening''':

 

== 1730-1740:  The Great Awakening ==

In the 1700s, the colonies grew in size.  The colonies grew to 2M in population, much more than the French settlements of only 100,000.  The colonies were not just the English.  Germans came here, African slaves came here involuntarily, Scotch-Irish immigrated here and settled in Appalachia.  William Penn was advertising for immigrants to come to Pennsylvania.  Colonists also began to migrate to Ohio, and conflicted with French fur trade with Indians.  The French constructed forts in Ohio, and the governor of Virginia sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to check out what was going on in 1754.  In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops.  They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen.  Then they released George Washington.  He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French.  That aide would be Alexander Hamilton.

In the 1700s, the colonies grew in size.  The colonies grew to 2M in population, much more than the French settlements of only 100,000.  The colonies were not just the English.  Germans came here, African slaves came here involuntarily, Scotch-Irish immigrated here and settled in Appalachia.  William Penn was advertising for immigrants to come to Pennsylvania.  Colonists also began to migrate to Ohio, and conflicted with French fur trade with Indians.  The French constructed forts in Ohio, and the governor of Virginia sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to check out what was going on in 1754.  In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops.  They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen.  Then they released George Washington.  He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French.  That aide would be Alexander Hamilton.