Flushing Remonstrance
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The Flushing Remonstrance, considered by many to be in some ways a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights, was signed on December 27, 1657 in Flushing, at the time part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland (now part of Queens, New York) by a group of citizens who were affronted by persecution of Quakers. This was done in demonstration to the policy of Governor Peter Stuyvesant, who banned all other religions outside of the Dutch Reformed Church from being practised in the colony.
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 the Netherlands, 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. (One year later, in 1664, the colony fell to British control, in part because of the dissatisfaction of the local populace with what they perceived as heavy-handed rule by Stuyvesant.)
External links
- [Electronic text version of the Flushing Remonstrance]
- [Text of Flushing Remonstrance and information]
- [Flushing Remonstrance]
- [John Bowne house and historical material]
- [Peabody, Michael D. "The Flushing Remonstrance." Liberty Magazine, Nov/Dec 2006.]
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