would warn the People when the actions of the Government were not proper. During the late 1820s and early 1830s, as newspapers grew so did their confidence in terms of the reporting of political events, embracing the concept of public argument and conversation over political issues. It was during this time that the Novascotian evolved into the outspoken and combative newspaper that it was. On July 8, 1829, Howe introduced a section in the Novascotian entitled "Legislative Reviews". The Novascotian was the first newspaper in Nova Scotia and one of the first newspapers in all of British North America to give regular reports on what went on within the House of Assembly. This was monumental for the citizens of Nova Scotia and for British North America as a whole. It was Howe's opinion without the Novascotian's reports on the legislative assembly, British North America would have limited knowledge of what went on in the meetings in which decisions were made that directly affected all British North Americans. The Novascotian was the cutting edge of the time when it came to the development of political conversation. This was because Howe was the first to give regular reports on the House of Assembly and opened up his newspaper to the voices of the public through letters. Also, the Novascotian, despite all of the political discussion and criticism that would be published, it was not the most radical newspaper in Nova Scotia at the time: The Colonial Patriot was even more critical and daring in their discussion of political issues. This was beneficial to Howe and the Novascotian because it meant that he was less likely to be targeted by the government for charges of libel. However, the Colonial Patriot folded in 1834, leaving the Novascotian as the most radical newspaper in Nova Scotia. This increase in political involvement climaxed on January 1, 1835, when Howe published a letter, signed 'The People', in the Novascotian that denounced the current local magistrates of Halifax. Joseph Howe's criminal libel trial of 1835 During the year 1834, Howe was starting to attract attention to himself due to his strong independent viewpoints in his editorials in the Novascotian, the Government was starting to take notice. Howe had eventually reached his breaking point and in late 1834, wrote in the Novascotian that he was going to start a campaign in the interest of bringing to light the wrongful