The predecessor to the US Constitution's Freedom of Religion in the Bill of Rights, the Flushing Remonstrance was signed on December 27, 1657 in what is now Flushing, New York by a group of citizens who were affronted by persecution of Quakers. This was done in demonstration to the policy of Gov. Peter Stuyvesant, who banned all other religions outside of the Dutch Reformed Church from being practised in the colony of New Netherland.
Two who signed, the town clerk and the sheriff, were arrested by order of Stuyvesant. The clerk was banished from the colony, but the sheriff, who recanted, was pardoned. The town government of Flushing was removed and replacements were appointed by Stuyvesant.
Subsequently, John Bowne of the colony allowed Quakers to meet in his house. He was arrested in 1662 and eventually made his way back to Holland, where the directors of the Dutch West India Company advised Stuyvesant by a letter (1663) that he was to end religious persecution in the colony.
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Last updated: 08-20-2005 14:47:11
