How American Press Freedom Began on Wall Street A 1735 libel
trial in New Yorks City Hall proved revolutionary. Independence
National Historical Park The corner of Wall and Nassau Streets
where Federal Hall now standsopposite the New York Stock
Exchange and J. P. Morgans old officeis sacred ground for
American liberty. In the cupola-crowned City Hall built there in
1699, representatives of the American colonies called themselves
together for the first time, in the Stamp Act Congress of 1765,
and declared their undoubted right not to be taxed but with
their own consent. In May 1789, four days after George
Washingtons inauguration on the balcony of the refurbished
building, just renamed Federal Hall and housing the new Senate
and House of Representatives, congressman James Madison opened
debate on a proposed Bill of Rights, which he guided to the
necessary two-thirds majorities in both chambers by the end of
that summer. In that same building over half a century earlier,
by a sweet coincidence, the free speech,