New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty - (Early American Studies) by Evan Haefeli (Paperback)

About the Book

Evan Haefeli demonstrates how convoluted and uncertain were the beginnings of religious tolerance in America, by giving them an international context.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty does nothing less than expand and transform our understanding of religious diversity and toleration in colonial Dutch North America. It will become required reading for anyone seriously interested in the early history of the mid-Atlantic colonies, the genesis of religious pluralism in America, or the history of religious toleration in the Dutch world."-- "Reviews in History"

"Evan Haefeli has written an original and quite provocative study of the alleged Dutch origins of religious toleration as a truly American value. The book eschews oversimplified revaluation and presents a nuanced picture of the colony's religious history. Of particular value is the author's familiarity with the literature in Dutch, quite rare even among American historians of New Netherland."-- "Willem Frijhoff, VU University Amsterdam"

"Through an examination of the too-often neglected Dutch colony of New Netherland that places its subject firmly in the Atlantic context, Evan Haefeli makes vital contributions both to colonial American history and to American religious history writ large."-- "Francis Bremer, author of John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father"

About the Author

Evan Haefeli is Associate Professor of History at Texas AandM University.