September 13, 2009 by pamela.

This week we have been celebrating the Dutch on this 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson River with a week-long “party bash” of events held in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch in a little ship called the Half Moon that was only 35 feet long, discovered the river that now bears his name, and sailed up it looking for Asia.

Hudson landed on the coast of Maine and chose to sail to the south where he explored New York Harbor, and on Sept. 11th 1609, he entered the Hudson River and navigated to what would become Fort Orange (Albany) by Sept. 19th. As a result of his explorations the Dutch would settle the Hudson River Valley and the two cities of Albany and New York on either end. Niew Amsterdam remained a Dutch settlement until 1674.

Having been nose-deep in the history books of late, I’m very much aware of the Dutch contribution to the formation of our great country. I have been reading a lot about Bergen recently, which was the first settlement in New Jersey (today’s Jersey City), whose early inhabitants were mostly Dutch, because there are still-to-be-explored links there to our Dutch ancestor Eliza Vandervoort. A Lawrence cousin was doing research on Eliza, who had family in South Bergen, and he was planning a trip to New Jersey. Unfortunately he died before he was able to complete his research, so we still don’t know very much about Eliza. My mother used to tell me that my father was descended from “a long line of Dutch sea captains”. If so, that must have come through Eliza.

The thriving fur trade that made the fortunes of both New York City and State, ran between Fort Orange and Mannahatta (Indian meaning island of many hills.). This soon became the Dutch settlement of Niew Amsterdam, where Wall Street is today. A fort was built where the U.S. Customs House stands today, and Mannahatta was purchased from the Indians for 60 guilder (about $24 dollars) and named Niew Amsterdam. But the point is, what became New York began as a business deal, and not a bloody conquest, and that was the difference between the Dutch and the other Europeans. Other European powers would have conquered Mannahatta, probably enslaving the Indians or even killing them. That’s not how the Dutch did things, and that was the difference between them and the other Europeans.

In history we can see many examples of the Dutch sense of fairness and equality, as well as tolerance. The Dutch at that time were the only country on earth to practice religious tolerance. The Puritans were being persecuted in England, and in turn, they themselves persecuted the Quakers in Boston! Persecution could mean torture and even death. The Dutch believed in tolerance toward different religious groups. As a result of their war with Spain they said never again will we do such things. People will be free to believe whatever they want. That was freedom of conscience. You could do anything in the privacy of your own home. Only the Dutch Reformed Church could build public places of worship, but everyone in Niew Netherland had freedom of conscience.

The following pertains to our Lawrence ancestors, who were Quakers living in Flushing, Queens. The Quakers arrived intending to settle in Manhattan, but Director Pieter Stuyvesant exiled them to Long Island, to the town of Flushing. So they organized a meeting (their version of a religious service) to protest. One of the organizers got roughed up by Stuyvesant’s soldiers and the people of Flushing then drew up a list of grievances called The Flushing Remonstrance that was sent over to Amsterdam– and Amsterdam ruled in their favor! Unlike their European counterparts, the Dutch had a system in which dissent was a part of the political process. The Flushing Remonstrance became one of the roots of religious freedom in America.

These are but a few examples of the Dutch way of thinking, which was far advanced over that of its European neighbors and formed the basis for the way things were done here in New York. It also had a direct influence on the formation of our U.S. Constitution. We have reason to be proud of our Dutch ancestry.