A Selection from my Capstone Research Paper on Tolerance in New Netherland.
WIC Policies and their Impact on Religion in New Netherland
Dorine White
History 591
April 17, 2022
Introduction
New
Netherland began as a trading post for the Dutch West India Company (WIC), a
multi-level company that employed thousands of sailors, soldiers, and settlers.
During the seventeenth century, the company controlled the political, legal,
and religious aspects of the area, and with the Estates-General (the Dutch parliamentary
assembly) an ocean away, the company took upon the powers of a state. As an
extension of the Dutch Republic, the WIC shared a "Liberty of
Conscience" religious policy with its homeland, but religious intolerance
sprouted in the new colony when local political and religious leaders felt that
religious diversity caused disorder and chaos. Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of
New Netherland between 1647 and 1664, often took issue with WIC policies
regarding the treatment of peoples of other faiths. Stuyvesant wanted the North
American colony to conform to the Reformed Church, and his actions prompted colonists
and members of other religions to fight for their own rights. The WIC repeatedly intervened against
the governor's decisions concerning different religions, intent on peace and
decorum. In addition, because of continuous clashes from colonists
over religious freedom, persecution became illegal. When the British conquered
New Netherland in 1664, they found a Dutch colony prepared to accept other
religions.
Yet,
the actions from the WIC were not out of concern for religious freedom or
protection of liberty of conscience. Instead, from the beginning, first as a trading post and later as a settlement, the
policies of the Dutch West India Company toward New Netherland showed a desire
for peaceful and profitable trading. The responses and policies of the
WIC reflected their commitment to commerce first and religion second or not at
all. While the leaders of New Netherland sought uniformity through religious
suppression, the WIC sought tolerance in the name of profit. These competing
visions had the unintended consequence of creating an environment where
colonists could get their own religions recognized and promote religious
tolerance.
This paper investigates the effects
of the Dutch West India Company's goals and policies on the developing colony
of New Netherland. It shows that individuals of the community continually
fought for religious rights and how the persistence of that struggle allowed an
opportunity for the WIC to use religion to achieve its own goals of peace
intermingled with prosperity. By building on current political, economic, and
religious studies involving the lives and beliefs of the Dutch colonists, my
research traces the changes in thought and policy that occurred from the
founding of New Netherland in 1614 until its turnover to the English in 1664.
The overall actions and declarations of the WIC allowed religion to be used as
a stepping stone to further company growth and profit. In turn, these policies
blocked local leadership's desire for religious uniformity. By researching the
roots of Reformed Calvinism in the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age, the
origins and mission of the WIC, and finally, the founding of New Netherland, this
paper shows that Calvinism in New Netherland took a different path than in the
Dutch Republic. The divergent way lent itself to religiously intolerant rules
and actions of the Calvinist leaders in the colonies. To support this claim,
this paper documents personal and company correspondence with the WIC and describes
the impact that various rulings had on settlers in New Netherland, how those
rulings left space for other religions to fight for acknowledgment, and how the
WIC used religion to benefit their company.
