NEW YORK (RNS) — A 17th-century letter considered the blueprint for religious freedom in the U.S. was displayed for the first time in seven years at the New York Public Library on Tuesday (April 8). The Flushing Remonstrance, signed by 30 settlers and opposing a ban on Quaker worship, will be on display through Thursday in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room of the library.
The “Flushing Remonstrance: Let Everyone Remain Free” exhibition celebrates the 60th anniversary of the New York City Landmarks law. For the occasion, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which selects landmarks and historic sites, partnered with the New York State Archives to display the highly protected document.
“I always look for some symbolic project to start the anniversary,” said historian Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, an organizer of the event and chair of the New York City Landmarks60 Alliance. A preservationist, Diamonstein-Spielvogel thought this forgotten episode of New York’s history would be a perfect fit.
“I was thinking of something worthy. And of course, I think this document is hallowed,” she said of the 1657 letter widely considered to have inspired the religious freedom clause in the First Amendment.
Though most people know about the First Amendment, few outside of Colonial history enthusiasts know of the Remonst …