What we mean by "public trial" is not the legal definition: a defendant's right to a trial that is open to the public.
Instead, this page is a list of trials and legal controversies that have affected the progress of American identity, discourse and voice. The list is in chronological order.
List of Trials
1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
1735 | Crown v. John Peter Zenger
"Crown v. John Peter Zenger". Historical Society of the New York Courts.
The Tryal of John Peter Zenger, of New-York, Printer, Who was lately Try'd and Acquitted for Printing and Publishing a Libel against the Government. With the Pleadings and Arguments on Both Sides. London: Printed for J. Wilford, 1738. Pdf.
1770 | Boston Massacre Trial
John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trial of 1770. Library of Congress Law Library.