history religious freedom 

This pamphlet provides a history of The Flushing Remonstrance. The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement at Flushing requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights.[citation needed] Its 350th anniversary was celebrated in 2007 in ceremonies throughout Queens, New York.

According to Kenneth T. Jackson, the Flushing Remonstrance was remarkable for four reasons:

it articulated a fundamental right that is as basic to American freedom as any other,
the authors backed up their words with actions by sending it to an official not known for tolerance,
they stood up for others in articulating a principle that was of little discernible benefit to themselves,
and the language of the remonstrance was as beautiful as the sentiments they expressed. 

Pamphlet. Good condition, but dirty. Distributed at Browne House. PDF of 1657 document available. Keep.