John Hancock is tried for smuggling.

Hancock is prosecuted by his friend, Jonathan Sewall. He is defended by John Adams, who argues that the warrant to search Hanock’s ship, the Liberty, is defective. The case drags on until the charges are withdrawn on March 25, 1769. John Adams later writes, “This odious causes was suspended at last only by the battle of Lexington, which put an end, forever, to all such prosecutions.”