Rare imprint: 'The Speeches at full length of Mr. Van Ness, Mr. Caines, the Attorney-General [Ambrose Spencer], Mr. Harrison, and General [Alexander] Hamilton, in the great cause of the people, against Harry Croswell, on an indictment for a libel on Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States' 78pp. 8vo., printed by G. and R. Waite, New York, 1804. An important record of speeches before an upstate New York court in a landmark First Amendment case in 1803 that pitted Thomas Jefferson against Alexander Hamilton one more time before Hamilton's death the following year. Then case arose out of attempts by Jefferson to use the Sedition Law against Federalist publishers that attacked the policies of his administration. In this case, the government charged Harry Croswell, publisher of the political periodical The Wasp, with criminal libel for publishing articles stating that Jefferson hired James Callender to publish unfounded accusations of crimes committed by Washington and Adams during their administrations, particularly in the infamous tract, The Prospect Before Us. Hamilton, and the other lawyers defending Croswell, argued that the freedom of the press must include the freedom to print the truth, regardless of how it reflected on its subjects - and directly contrary to English libel law. This work also includes another strong argument along the same lines by William Van Ness, who served as Hamilton's second in the fatal duel with Aaron Burr. The acquittal of Croswell established truth as a defense against libel in New York and eventually at the Federal level, and served as Hamilton's last political victory over Jefferson. Cohen 13322. Ford, Hamiltonian 90. Sabin 17677. The cover of the pamphlet has been reinforced with archival tape along the inside edge, pages uncut and in fine condition. Bound in red leather with a gold title to the spine.