Religion

The freedom of religion in New York goes back to the 1600s when New York was the Dutch Colony of New Netherland. The following documents show the progression of religious freedom in New York up to the inclusion of religious liberty in New York's First State Constitution in 1777.
Sometimes called the first “American Declaration of Independence,” The Flushing Remonstrance was signed by freeholders of Flushing and Jamaica, Long Island on December 27, 1657.  The Remonstrance protested Governor Peter Stuyvesant’s order forbidding Quakers from holding religious meetings, which was a violation of the religious freedom guaranteed by the Flushing Charter of 1645.