1657: Remonstrance

Our First Freedom

By David Oats

In 1985, the Queens Tribune marked its 25th Anniversary with a project.

We gathered together the most respected historians and Queens preservationists to pick the 25 most important and significant events and persons in the history of Queens.

Over many hours, in meetings at the studios of QPTV and at Queens Theatre in the Park at Flushing Meadows, these hours of careful and sometimes contentious discussions resulted in a remarkable debate about where this borough has evolved from its beginnings to the place we are today.

Despite debate about many issues over the four-century history of this remarkable place called Queens, there was one indisputable and unanimous choice for the most important event to take place in this place we call home.

That was the drafting and signing of the Flushing Remonstrance on Dec. 27, 1657 – a document of courage and conscience that not only changed our county, but our country. This year, 350 years after it was signed, it will return to Queens and hopefully the remarkable story of its creation and its message will resonate to a world badly in need of it. Turn the page and join us as we tell a part of its story, and in an issue of the Tribune marking anniversaries, we salute this one above all others.

1657: Remonstrance

Our First Freedom

By David Oats

The 1962 Quaker Meeting House still stands today.

Religion is both an intensely private part of our lives and a very public one at the same time. There is the inner spirit that drives us to believe or not to believe. Then there are the believer’s own conscience and faith and traditions that moves him to what he believes.

Then there is the public manifestation that allows us to express these beliefs – or unbeliefs – in the manner or custom called for. For centuries, governments and rulers have attempted to control what people are allowed to believe and how to manifest it. In many societies, even in our new millennium, religious persecution is prevalent.

That is why what occurred in Flushing 350 years ago this December was such a momentous event in the history of religions.

The town was part of Dutch controlled New Amsterdam and ruled under the iron hand of its Governor, Peter Stuyvesant. He dictated that only the Dutch Reformed religion could be publicly practiced.

When members of a group called the Society of Friends (better known as the Quakers) came to the village to practice their faith, they were banned. Englishman Henry Townsend had a home in the town and he was moved by the group’s plight. He opened his home to the Quakers to hold their services in his kitchen. He was arrested and banished from the town.

Meanwhile the leading citizens of the town who were angered by Stuyvesant’s edict bravely gathered to draw up a document – the Remonstrance they called it – to declare that Flushing would not tolerate religious persecution and declared that the town was open to all faiths to fully worship.

The Remonstrance said, “Ye have been pleased to send up unto us a certain prohibition, or command, that we should not retaine or entertaine any of those people called Quakers . . . We cannot condemn them . . . neither stretch out our hands against them, to punish, banish or persecute them . . . We are commanded by the Law to do good to all men . . . That which is of God will stand, and that which is of man will come to nothing . . . Our only desire is not to offend one of these little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title he appears . . . There if any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse or regresse into our town and houses . . . This is according to the Patent and Charter of our town . . . which we are not willing to infringe or violate.”

The document was drawn up by the town clerk, Edward Hart, and on Dec. 27, 1657 (on which the festival of Chanukah fell that year) 28 freeholders of Flushing and two from Jamaica signed the Remonstrance on the site of what is today the Flushing Armory on Northern Blvd.

In 1661 John Bowne bought land and built a home – which still stands today. He invited the Quakers into his home after his young wife had converted. He was arrested in 1662 and put on a ship to sail to Holland and told to depart “wherever he may land.” That turned out to be Ireland and Bowne would work his way all the way to Holland where he made his case to the directors of the burghers in Holland. To his amazement, they agreed with him, released him and rebuked Stuyvesant.

The burghers wrote, “We doubt very much whether vigorous proceedings against them ought not to be discontinued, unless, indeed, you intend to check and destroy your population, which, in the youth of your existence, ought rather to be encouraged by all possible means . . . The conscience of men ought to remain free and unshackled. Let every one remain free.”

After a two-year exile, Bowne returned to Flushing and freely practiced his religious beliefs, though the English, who took over the colony shortly after Bowne’s return, did treat the Quakers with a heavy hand.

In 1672, George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, came to speak at the Bowne House. In 1676 Bowne dedicated property in his backyard for a Quaker burial ground, and in 1692 he and John Rodman bequeathed three acres to the Quakers so they could build their own Meeting House, which opened in 1694 and still stands today.

Bowne is buried behind the 17th century wooden Friends Meeting House on Northern Blvd.

The principle bravely established in Queens became enshrined more than a century later in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. In 1957, on the 300th anniversary of the signing of the Remonstrance, the U.S. government issued a commemorative postal stamp honoring the occasion.

Today the 346-year old Bowne House still stands on the street that bears his name. It is a national historic site and open to the public as a museum, presenting a quaint and beautiful picture of early Flushing.

Across the borough people from around the world have established a house of worship for every faith on earth with 114 Baptist churches and more than 500 other Protestant churches, 96 synagogues, 103 Roman Catholic churches, 21 Orthodox churches, at least 39 Hindu temples, 18 mosques, 12 Buddhist temples and ever-growing new congregations making Queens a center of international religious worship.

That is fitting for a place where more than three centuries ago the spirit moved the citizens of Flushing to take an important stand. In doing so a little house on Bowne Street became a clapboard cathedral of the soul.

1657: Remonstrance

Our First Freedom

John Bowne’s house accomodated the Quakers beginning in 1661.

Then there is the public manifestation that allows us to express these beliefs – or unbeliefs – in the manner or custom called for. For centuries, governments and rulers have attempted to control what people are allowed to believe and how to manifest it. In many societies, even in our new millennium, religious persecution is prevalent.

That is why what occurred in Flushing 350 years ago this December was such a momentous event in the history of religions.

The town was part of Dutch controlled New Amsterdam and ruled under the iron hand of its Governor, Peter Stuyvesant. He dictated that only the Dutch Reformed religion could be publicly practiced.

When members of a group called the Society of Friends (better known as the Quakers) came to the village to practice their faith, they were banned. Englishman Henry Townsend had a home in the town and he was moved by the group’s plight. He opened his home to the Quakers to hold their services in his kitchen. He was arrested and banished from the town.

Meanwhile the leading citizens of the town who were angered by Stuyvesant’s edict bravely gathered to draw up a document – the Remonstrance they called it – to declare that Flushing would not tolerate religious persecution and declared that the town was open to all faiths to fully worship.

The Remonstrance said, “Ye have been pleased to send up unto us a certain prohibition, or command, that we should not retaine or entertaine any of those people called Quakers . . . We cannot condemn them . . . neither stretch out our hands against them, to punish, banish or persecute them . . . We are commanded by the Law to do good to all men . . . That which is of God will stand, and that which is of man will come to nothing . . . Our only desire is not to offend one of these little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title he appears . . . There if any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse or regresse into our town and houses . . . This is according to the Patent and Charter of our town . . . which we are not willing to infringe or violate.”

The document was drawn up by the town clerk, Edward Hart, and on Dec. 27, 1657 (on which the festival of Chanukah fell that year) 28 freeholders of Flushing and two from Jamaica signed the Remonstrance on the site of what is today the Flushing Armory on Northern Blvd.

In 1661 John Bowne bought land and built a home – which still stands today. He invited the Quakers into his home after his young wife had converted. He was arrested in 1662 and put on a ship to sail to Holland and told to depart “wherever he may land.” That turned out to be Ireland and Bowne would work his way all the way to Holland where he made his case to the directors of the burghers in Holland. To his amazement, they agreed with him, released him and rebuked Stuyvesant.

The burghers wrote, “We doubt very much whether vigorous proceedings against them ought not to be discontinued, unless, indeed, you intend to check and destroy your population, which, in the youth of your existence, ought rather to be encouraged by all possible means . . . The conscience of men ought to remain free and unshackled. Let every one remain free.”

After a two-year exile, Bowne returned to Flushing and freely practiced his religious beliefs, though the English, who took over the colony shortly after Bowne’s return, did treat the Quakers with a heavy hand.

In 1672, George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, came to speak at the Bowne House. In 1676 Bowne dedicated property in his backyard for a Quaker burial ground, and in 1692 he and John Rodman bequeathed three acres to the Quakers so they could build their own Meeting House, which opened in 1694 and still stands today.

Bowne is buried behind the 17th century wooden Friends Meeting House on Northern Blvd.

The principle bravely established in Queens became enshrined more than a century later in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. In 1957, on the 300th anniversary of the signing of the Remonstrance, the U.S. government issued a commemorative postal stamp honoring the occasion.

Today the 346-year old Bowne House still stands on the street that bears his name. It is a national historic site and open to the public as a museum, presenting a quaint and beautiful picture of early Flushing.

Across the borough people from around the world have established a house of worship for every faith on earth with 114 Baptist churches and more than 500 other Protestant churches, 96 synagogues, 103 Roman Catholic churches, 21 Orthodox churches, at least 39 Hindu temples, 18 mosques, 12 Buddhist temples and ever-growing new congregations making Queens a center of international religious worship.

That is fitting for a place where more than three centuries ago the spirit moved the citizens of Flushing to take an important stand. In doing so a little house on Bowne Street became a clapboard cathedral of the soul.

A Return Trip?

By David Oats

The importance of the Flushing Remonstrance, its impact on our nation and the relevance with which it still speaks to us across the centuries is unfortunately largely ignored.

That is because it has been invisible – locked away in a vault upstate in Albany, literally out of sight, out of mind. This historic document has only returned to Queens – its place of creation – three times in the past 350 years. It returned triumphantly in 1957 for the 300th anniversary of its signing with President Dwight Eisenhower extolling its importance and the U.S. Post Office issuing a commemorative postage stamp in its honor.

In 1976, for the U.S. Bicentennial, it returned for an exhibition at the Queens Museum. In the late 1990s, we began a campaign here at the Queens Tribune to bring the document back for viewing by a new generation after an incident where a Flushing councilperson blasted the influx of immigrants to the area as a detriment to the community. We felt then that Flushing had to be reminded of its roots and the courage of those brave citizens of 1657 Flushing.

Little did we realize that it would take close to three years to get the State to lift its ironclad control over this document and permit it to come home. In 1999, it traveled by armored van, accompanied by NY State troopers, for a two month public display at the new Flushing Library, not far from where it was signed. The exhibition was a resounding success, running from Thanksgiving through the religious holidays of Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Chanukah and Christmas, the Dec. 27 anniversary of its signing and the New Years observance of the Year 2000. People were able to learn and see firsthand the powerful message of the Remonstrance.

But then it was taken away and placed back in its prison in Albany. And forgotten again. But this year, in honor of its 350th anniversary, it may return for viewing at the Flushing Library and may possibly be temporarily housed at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows in early 2008. Its significance in the post-Sept. 11 world gives it an even more powerful symbol to a world in desperate need of the message of religious tolerance and freedom of expression. Many events, educational and cultural, will highlight its return this December.

But if it goes away to an obscure enclosure once again, the brave voices of 1657 will be muffled and forgotten. The Flushing Remonstrance Committee has launched a campaign to urge Governor Spitzer to return the document permanently to Queens. A petition can be found at its Web site, www.flushingremonstrance.org.

The Queens Museum of Art, currently beginning a major expansion in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, has agreed to provide the safe and appropriate location for a lasting showcase for this monumental piece of Queens and American history for future generations. It is appropriate that the very building in which the Museum is located was where the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the logical international acceptance of the principles put forward by the courageous citizens of Flushing Dec. 27, 1657.

Remonstrance Of the Inhabitants of the Towne of Flushing To Governor Peter Stuyvesant

December 27, 1657: Right Honorable

You have been pleased to send up unto us a certain prohibition or command that we should not receive or entertain any of those people called Quakers because they are supposed to be by some, seducers of the people. For our part we cannot condemn them in this case, neither can we sretch out our hands against them, to punish, banish or persecute them, for out of Christ God is a consuming fire, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

We desire therefore in this case not to judge least we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand and fall to his own Master. Wee are bounde by the Law to doe good unto all men, especially to those of the household of faith. And though for the present we seem to be unsensible of the law and the Law giver, yet when death and the Law assault us, if wee have our advocated to seeke, who shall plead for us in this case of conscience betwixt God and our own souls; the powers of this world can neither attack us, neither excuse us. for if God justifye who can condemn anad if God condemn there is none can justifye.

And for those jealousies and suspicions which some have of them, that they are destructive unto Magistracy and Minstereye, that can not bee, for the magistrate hath the sword in his hand and minister hath the sword in his hand, as witnesse those two great examples which all magistrates and ministers are to follow, Moses and Christ, whom God raised up maintained and defended against all the enemies both of flesh and spirit; and therefore that which is of God will stand, and that which is of man will come to nothing. And as the Lord hath taught Moses or the civil power to give an outward liberty in the state by the law written in his heart designed for the good of all, and can truly judge who is good, who is civil, who is true and who is false, and can pass definitive sentence of life or death against that man which rises up against the fundamental law of the States General; soe he hath made his ministers a savor of life unto life, and a savor of death unto death.

The law of love, peace and liberty in the states extending to Jews, Turks, and Egyptians, as they are considered the sonnes of Adam, which is the glory of the outward state of Holland, soe love, peace and liberty, extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemns hatred, war and bondage. And because our Saviour saith it is impossible but that offenses will come, but woe unto him by whom they cometh, our desire is not to offend one of his little ones, in whatsoever form, name or title hee appears in weether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker, but shall be glad to see anything of God in any of them, desiring to doe unto al men as wee desire all men should doe unto us, which in the true law both of Church and State; for our Saviour saith this is the law and the prophets.

Therefore if any these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in science lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse and regresse unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences. And in this we are true subjects both of Church and State, for we are bounde by the law of God and man to doe good unto all men and evil to noe man. And this is according to the patent and charter of our Towne, given unto us in the name of the States General, which we are not willing ton infringe, and violate, but shall houlde to our patent and shall remaine, your humble subjects, the inhabitants of Vlishing.

1657: Remonstrance

Townsend Descendant Still Found In Flushing

Barbara McDermott

Beverly McDermott, 63, lives on Poplar Avenue in a house surrounded by more than two dozen dogwood, oak and maple trees, in the same neighborhood her ancestors helped officially establish as Vlissingen in 1645. It would later be known as Flushing by the British.

Not many people can trace their family history back 13 generations, like McDermott, whose relative John Townsend was one of the founding fathers of Flushing and, along with his son Henry, was one of the signers of the Flushing Remonstrance, the document that would serve as the basis for freedom of religion in the United States and the world.

“These were not upper class people,” said McDermott, who worked for many years at the Bowne House giving history lessons and helping people trace their genealogy. “They were working class people.”

From relatives’ story telling and her own research, McDermott can trace her family roots back to one ancestor who was appointed bishop by Queen Elizabeth I.

The Townsends and Hawkeshursts, families of merchants and farmers, came to the Dutch colonies following a possible incident in which a family member was thrown to his death from a bell tower in England during a dispute with a rival goods smuggler, McDermott said.

They eventually settled in the Dutch-ruled village looking for a fresh start.

Based on her readings, McDermott said Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of the New Netherlands, began to feel pressure from the king on the other side of the Atlantic.

“Stuyvesant was under a lot of stress,” she said. “He was not collecting enough revenues,” and so he became increasingly worried about unrest among the people, McDermott explained.

He believed that if he regulated their religion, and made them Dutch Reformed, he could ensure peace, and more importantly, ultimate control over the population.

But the people felt otherwise. During a time when each day was just a struggle to survive, McDermott said the Townsends believed in self-ownership, the right to take responsibility for your own life and its obstacles.

This idea, McDermott noted, is reflected in documents she dug up at the Oyster Bay library. In them, Henry Townsend opposed a road maintenance tax, believing that if everyone took care of their parcel of road in front of their farms, there would be no need to raise the tax.

“This was the beginning of government ruining their life,” McDermott said.

In Vlissingen, the Townsends were allowing Quakers to meet in their home away from the prying eye of the Dutch government.

They, along with the other families, solidified their support for the Quakers by signing the Flushing Remonstrance in 1657.

Stuyvesant responded by arresting and fining Townsend, a move that convinced Townsend Vlissingen was not the place for him; he moved most of the family to Oyster Bay.

As far as McDermott knows, she is the last Townsend descendent still living in Flushing.

Today, McDermott said she doesn’t dwell on her family’s place in history, but is amazed by what their small revolutionary act now means, because it began with ordinary people.

“They were simple people with simple educations, but it doesn’t mean they were simple-minded,” McDermott said.

Descendants Wanted

In honor of the 350th anniversary of the Flushing Remonstrance, the Bowne House Historical Society is seeking descendants of the men who signed the Flushing Remonstrance. The signers were:

The Committee is also interested in finding descendants of Peter Stuyvesant and his sheriff Resolved Waldron.

Descendants should send their information to Flushing Remonstrance c/o Bowne House Historical Society, 37-01 Bowne Street, Flushing, New York, 11354 or by email to dcartelli@bownehouse.org. Please include mailing address, email address, and phone number, along with the name of the signer, and the line of descent.

The search for the descendants of the men who signed the Flushing Remonstrance is part of The Office of the President of the Borough of Queens initiative to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the document.

To learn more, visit www.bownehouse.org.