Actually, jury nullification goes back to the beginnings of this nation
That a juror cannot be punished for a not-guilty verdict in opposition of the court's instructions was established in 1600s England in the case of William Penn. The first famous use here was in the early 1700s in the Peter Zenger case, where he was acquitted of libel against the crown for printing truths. The jury was told truth is no defense for libel, yet they acquitted him anyway. This case also helped establish that truth is an absolute defense to a claim of libel. That's still not the case everywhere in the world today.
Even before the Revolution, and even further back to the early days of British Common Law.
Indeed... I find it 'interesting', and not to say 'informative' that the Peter Zenger trial is no longer taught in schools across this country. Interesting, and informative, indeed...
the infowarrior