Editing New Netherland (section)

===Political culture===
The concept of tolerance was the mainstay of the province's Dutch mother country. The [[Dutch Republic]] was a haven for many religious and intellectual refugees fleeing oppression, as well as home to the world's major ports in the newly developing [[economic globalization|global economy]]. Concepts of religious freedom and free trade (including a stock market) were [[Netherlands]] imports.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-hollandse-fundamenten-van-new-york | title=De Hollandse fundamenten van New York | date=November 19, 2004 }}</ref> In 1682, visiting Virginian William Byrd commented about New Amsterdam that "they have as many sects of religion there as at Amsterdam".

The Dutch Republic was one of the first [[nation-state]]s of Europe where [[citizenship]] and [[civil liberties]] were extended to large segments of the population. The framers of the [[U.S. Constitution]] were influenced by the Constitution of the [[Republic of the United Provinces]], though that influence was more as an example of things to avoid than of things to imitate.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alexander Hamilton, James Madison|title=Federalist Papers no. 20| date=December 11, 1787| url=http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext91/feder16.txt | access-date=January 15, 2008}}</ref>  

The [[United States Declaration of Independence]] (1776), is strikingly similar to the [[Act of Abjuration]] (1581), which is essentially a declaration of independence of the United Provinces from the Spanish throne,<ref name = "UWM06291998">{{cite news|author=Barbara Wolff |title=Was Declaration of Independence inspired by Dutch? |url=http://www.news.wisc.edu/3049 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] |date=June 29, 1998 |access-date=December 14, 2007}}</ref> though there is no concrete evidence that the one influenced the other. [[John Adams]] went so far as to say that "the origins of the two Republics are so much alike that the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other."<ref>{{cite web
| last = Reagan| first = Ronald| title = Remarks at the Welcoming Ceremony for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands| work = Public Papers of Ronald Reagan| access-date = March 6, 2009| date = April 19, 1982| url = http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1982/41982a.htm| archive-date = September 24, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080924112821/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1982/41982a.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref>
The [[Articles of Capitulation]] (outlining the terms of transfer to the English) in 1664<ref name="articlesofcap"/> provided for the right to worship as one wished, and were incorporated into subsequent city, state, and national constitutions in the United States, and are the legal and cultural code that lies at the root of the [[Tri-State Region|New York Tri-State]] traditions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14980.html|title=New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty – Evan Haefeli|website=www.upenn.edu}}</ref>

The [[Flushing Remonstrance]] was a 1657 [[petition]] to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement at [[Flushing, Queens|Flushing]] requested an exemption to his ban on [[Religious Society of Friends|Quaker]] worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on [[freedom of religion]] in the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thirteen.org/dutchny/interactives/document-the-flushing-remonstrance/|title=Document: The Flushing Remonstrance, 1657|date=August 17, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/flushing-remonstrance.htm|title=Document that inspired Bill of Rights on display at Federal Hall National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov}}</ref>

Many prominent U.S. citizens are [[Dutch American]] directly descended from the Dutch families of New Netherland.<ref>*{{cite web
| last = Welling
| first = George M.
| title = The United States of America and the Netherlands
| work = From Revolution to Reconstruction
| date = March 6, 2003
| url = http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/E/newnetherlands/nlxx.htm
| access-date = December 10, 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110518074217/http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/E/newnetherlands/nlxx.htm
| archive-date = May 18, 2011
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> The [[Roosevelt family]] produced two [[President of the United States|Presidents]] and are descended from Claes van Roosevelt, who emigrated around 1650.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oudvossemeer.com/index.htm |access-date=February 28, 2008 |title=Oud Vossemeer&nbsp;– The cradle of the U.S.A. Roosevelt presidents and family |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019101657/http://www.oudvossemeer.com/index.htm |archive-date=October 19, 2007 }}</ref> The Van Buren family of President [[Martin Van Buren]], who even spoke Dutch as his first language, also originated in New Netherland.<ref name="frontiers.loc.gov"/> The [[Bush family]] descendants from Flora Sheldon are descendants from the [[Schuyler family]].