On December 27, 1657, a group of English-speaking residents in the Dutch colony of New Netherland signed the “Flushing Remonstrance.” The petition protested a ban on Quaker worship issued by colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant. The signers argued that government should not persecute people for their religious beliefs and referenced principles that later echoed in American ideas about religious freedom.
Although the Dutch authorities rejected the remonstrance at the time, it became an early example of colonial resistance to religious restrictions. Historians often point to the document as a precursor to later protections in the U.S. Constitution. It remains a notable milestone in the development of religious liberty in what became the United States.
