1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812307503321

Autore

Haefeli Evan <1969->

Titolo

New Netherland and the Dutch origins of American religious liberty / / Evan Haefeli

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2012

ISBN

0-8122-2378-0

0-8122-0895-1

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (376 p.)

Collana

Early American Studies

Disciplina

323.44/2097309032

Soggetti

Religious tolerance - United States - History - 17th century

Dutch - United States - History - 17th century

New Netherland Religion

United States Religion 17th century

United States Church history To 1775

Netherlands Religion 17th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p.[313]-342)and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Note on translations, transcriptions, and dates -- Introduction -- 1. Dutch Tolerance -- 2. Connivance -- 3. Toleration -- 4. Non-Christians -- 5. Babel -- 6. Liberty of Conscience -- 7. Public Church -- 8. Borders -- 9. Radicalism -- 10. Conquest -- Conclusion -- List of Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

The settlers of New Netherland were obligated to uphold religious toleration as a legal right by the Dutch Republic's founding document, the 1579 Union of Utrecht, which stated that "everyone shall remain free in religion and that no one may be persecuted or investigated because of religion." For early American historians this statement, unique in the world at its time, lies at the root of American pluralism. New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty offers a new reading of the way tolerance operated in colonial America. Using sources in several languages and looking at laws and ideas as well as their enforcement and resistance, Evan Haefeli shows that, although tolerance as a general principle was respected in the colony,



there was a pronounced struggle against it in practice. Crucial to the fate of New Netherland were the changing religious and political dynamics within the English empire. In the end, Haefeli argues, the most crucial factor in laying the groundwork for religious tolerance in colonial America was less what the Dutch did than their loss of the region to the English at a moment when the English were unusually open to religious tolerance. This legacy, often overlooked, turns out to be critical to the history of American religious diversity. By setting Dutch America within its broader imperial context, New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty offers a comprehensive and nuanced history of a conflict integral to the histories of the Dutch republic, early America, and religious tolerance.