History

• Religion went through many incarnations during colonial times. After the Protestant Reformation in Europe, many factions came to the New World seeking economic gain and religious freedom. As the colony was first controlled by the Netherlands, Dutch Reformed Protestantism was the first prominent religion of New York, building the Marble Collegiate Church in 1628. However, the influx of French Huguenots soon caused the French version of Protestantism to become the dominant religion.
  
  After the Flushing Remonstrance was signed into law, giving Quakers the right to practice, religious tolerance began to take hold. This was followed by an influx of Recife Jews, who built the first synagogue in the Americas. It still stands as Temple Shearith Israel.
  
  

Time Frame

• The colony was first formed as New Netherlands in the 17th century and became an official province in 1624. The Duke of York mounted a takeover of the colony 1663, bringing the Church of England and its values to the land.
  
  As the colony was established for economic gain, rather than religious freedom, many different groups traveled there. Colonists of many Christian and Jewish sects settled the city and the greater New York area over the years, including one Muslim.
  
  By 1776 and the American Revolution, many religious groups such as Protestants, Catholics, and Lutherans had made there way to the colony, giving way to religious tolerance being officially recognized by the American Constitution.
  
  

Size

• The population of New York fluctuated heavily with the influx and emigration of colonists, but New York City maintained a strong population of 22,000 for much of its early history. Protestants made up the majority of citizens, while Catholicism was practiced by a smaller group of residents. Eighteen different churches and synagogues blanketed the city and leadership welcomed visitors and new residents with signs pointing to each place of worship.
  
  

Effects

• The justification of the Founding Fathers to add freedom of religion to the First Amendment was the experiment of New York religious tolerance. Because so many different religious groups made their way into the area, a lax attitude became the norm in order to benefit the colony's growth. This allowed the government to pass laws to protect individual freedoms, most of which still hold true today.
  
  

Significance

• Religious tolerance is a way of life today in North America. Many point at the inadvertent immigration of various religious groups and the subsequent laws put in place for their protection. Of all the major colonies of pre-Revolutionary America, New York was a bastion of diversity as it still remains today.