The crowning glory of Hamilton's career was his defense of John Peter Zenger in 1735, which he undertook pro bono. Zenger was a printer in New York City. In his newspaper, Zenger had asserted that judges were arbitrarily displaced, and new courts were erected, without the consent of the legislature, by which trials by jury were taken away when a governor was so disposed. The attorney-general charged him with the crime of seditious libel, and Zenger's lawyers James Alexander and William Smith, objecting to the legality of the judge's commissions, were stricken from the list of attorneys. At this point, no New York attorneys could take the case. The merchant Mary Spratt Alexander suggested to her husband James Alexander that he ask his colleague Andrew Hamilton whom he was in regular correspondence with - and who was outside of the reach of influence by the judge - to come to New York to defend Zenger. Mary Alexander then traveled to Philadelphia to interview Hamilton and provide him with the facts of the case. It is thought that she and her husband were early investors of the New York Weekly Gazette.The Goede Vrouw of Manahata at Home and in Society, 1609-1760, by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer pub. 1898, page 303
