Precursor of the Constitution Goes on Display in Queens

NY Times ^ | December 5, 2007 | GLENN COLLINS

[Pharmboy]

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times
An art handler at the Queens Public Library cleaned the display case Tuesday where the Flushing
Remonstrance will be shown.

The Flushing Remonstrance made a rare visit yesterday to the old neighborhood.

...the] Remonstrance...an important early recorded defense of the freedom to worship that has been called the religious Magna Carta of the New World.

Relatively little known, this 1657 appeal by some 30 Flushing farmers for freedom to practice their Quaker religion goes on display...

snip...

According to historians, a group of about 30 freeholders in Flushing, which was then called Vlissingen, drafted and signed a remonstrance, or traditional form of Dutch protest, opposing the policy of Peter Stuyvesant, the provincial director general, that restricted the worship of Quakers because they were not members of the Dutch Reformed Church.

These English nationals, subject to Dutch law, signed the document on Dec. 27, 1657. After they presented it to the colonial government, some of them were arrested (and released a short time later).

“They went to jail for it; they put their money where there mouth was,” Dr. Jackson said.

John Bowne, a Flushing farmer, subsequently invited Quakers to meet in his home — now a museum on Bowne Street that bears his name. For his daring, he was arrested, jailed and banished.

Bowne journeyed to the Netherlands and made successful arguments to the Dutch West India Company, which ultimately freed him and upheld the ideals of the Remonstrance, in a rebuke to the irascible Stuyvesant.

... The Remonstrance exhibited in Flushing is the 1657 record of the original, copied by a notary onto rag paper and included in the colonial-council minutes of New Amsterdam. The original petition has never been found.

[Pharmboy]

Growing up in NYC, we learned about the Flushing Remonstrance in grade school.

Stuyvesant did not share the feelings of many of his Dutch countrymen when it came to believers who were not of the Dutch Reform persuasion. Quakers were considered similarly to Catholics and Jews by him, but the attitude of the Dutch West India company usually prevailed.

[Pharmboy]

The Bowne House, 17th Century farmhouse in Flushing, Queens, NY

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[hedgetrimmer]

Good morning! Thanks for posting, I had not heard of this document before.

[Pharmboy]

A Dutch ping for you, friend...

[Pharmboy]

You're quite welcome.

Here is the original text of the Remonstrance with the signers below.

[Clemenza]

Thanks for the ping.

When I was working on a political campaign back in '02, I always pointed out the meetinghouse where the Flushing Remonstrance was written. Unfortunately, it is located near a very dangerous intersection, so exercise caution while in the nabe.

[hedgetrimmer]

Thanks for that, too.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Grimmy]

I had never heard of this before. Thanks many muches for the ping.

[COBOL2Java]

Fascinating. Thanks for the ping! I grew up in another (at the time) primarily Dutch part of Queens called Ridgewood. One of the original street names was Onderdonk Avenue.

I remember as a kid watching the Dutch women come out of their houses every week (Saturday as I recall) and scrub their stoops clean.

[Cacique]

I think this thread belongs in News activism/ general news or at least in the editorial section as it pertains to more than just New York History.

[Cacique]

Thank you much for the ping.

[GoLightly]

Constitution or Declaration of Independence?

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Not unlike Wall St, which traces the route of the former city wall. Like Grimmy, I’d never heard of this before either, and I’m glad Pharmboy shared this with us.

[Pharmboy]

I imagine the Constitution because of the First Amendment—Freedom of Religion.

[ctdonath2]

Is a photo of the original available?

[davetex]

New to me also Pharm. Thanks

[ctdonath2]

[Pharmboy]

Thanks!

[ctdonath2]

Would like a really high-res version, as I like printing such old documents & framing them.
Interesting how several signatures are crossed off...