Andrew Hamilton (lawyer)

Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in the Thirteen Colonies, where he finally settled in Philadelphia. He was best known for his legal victory on behalf of the printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. This 1735 decision in New York helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel. His eloquent defense concluded with saying that the press has a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth.

Believed to be born in Scotland about 1676, Hamilton did not talk about his parentage, career, or name in the Old World. At one time he was called Trent, although he returned to his name of Hamilton when Queen Anne came to the throne in 1702. In his address to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1739, he speaks of liberty, the love of which as it first drew me to, so it constantly prevailed on me to reside in this Province, tho to the manifest prejudice of my fortune. Probably Hamilton was his real name, but, for private reasons, he saw fit to discard it for a time.

Source: Wikipedia