“It is not the cause of one poor printer, nor of New York alone, which you are now trying. No! It may in its consequence affect every freeman that lives under a British government on the main of America. It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty; and I make no doubt but your upright conduct, this day, will... entitle you to the love and esteem of your fellow-citizens; but every man who prefers freedom to a life of slavery will bless and honour you, as men who have baffled the attempt of tyranny; and by an impartial and uncorrupt verdict, have laid a noble foundation for securing to ourselves, our posterity, and our neighbours, that, to which nature and the laws of our country have given us a right,—the liberty—both of exposing and opposing arbitrary power... by speaking and writing truth.”
—Andrew Hamilton, defense attorney, The Trial of John Peter Zenger, 1735
Which of the following developments in the British North American colonies did the arguments expressed in the excerpt most directly reflect?
- AThe enforcement of imperial laws designed to align colonial printing industries with British mercantilist trade policies.
- BThe political efforts of Chesapeake planters to replace local representative assemblies with direct democracy modeled on New England town meetings.
- The growing influence of Enlightenment ideas concerning natural rights and the limits of governing authority.Cevap
- DThe legal codification of racial categories that separated the status of indentured servants from that of enslaved laborers.