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Peter Stuyvesant’s Culture Wars
Tolera'ng the Sin of Satan
in Dutch New York (1647-‐1644)
What is “Dutch” New York?
New Netherland: Circa 1650 Area Occupied by Present Day NY
Director-‐General Peter Stuyvesant Governed New Netherland & Curacao 1647-‐1664
• A Conserva@ve (Calvinist) religious Protestant
• A Military “Commander in Chief” in a sensi@ve region
• A Poli@cian balancing “Big Business” interests of the West India Company, with his own principles
• Known for policies of poli@cal and religious intolerance
Poli'cal and Religious Tension in the Colony
Dutch Reformed Church vs. a heterogeneous popula@on
Natural Rights (Burghers) vs. Divine Right (Administra@on)
Merchant Class (Taxa@on & trade duty) vs. Dutch West India Company Emp.
Case Study Examples for Stuyvesant’s Anger & Intolerance
• The War Crime Charges of Melyn and Kuyter, against former Director KieT, 1647
• The Pe@@on of the Nine Men, 1649
• Flushing Remonstrance of 1653
• Flushing Remonstrance of 1657 • “Private” Conven@cles: A^empts at Religious Autonomy
Stuyvesant’s Furious Opposi@on to Liberty
“People may think of appealing during my Cme – should any one do so, I would have him made a foot shorter, pack the pieces off to Holland and let him appeal in that way”.
-‐ Peter Stuyvesant, when Melyn and Kuyter, “Cunning” and “Malignant Subjects”, appealed his sentence of banishment
“Anyone offer objecCon…He bursts inconCnentally into a rage and makes such a to-‐do that it is dreadful”
-‐ Adriaen Van Der Donck, on Peter Stuyvesant’s conduct in Council
He’d rather “Quit his posiCon than to allow (it)…in contravenCon to the first arCcle of his commission, which was sworn to by him with an oath, not to admit any other than the true reformed faith.”
-‐ Dominie Megapolensis, on Peter Stuyvesant’s resolve to prevent the Lutheran minority (Some who he imprisoned) from organizing a church
Why are we so Angry if We’re Right?
The Culture War & Angry Poli@cs: Escala@ng, Polarizing us Further Apart
New Liberal Extreme
“I don’t want to be crass, but I just hope that Marcus Bachmann takes all that, ya know, that rage …and brings it (out against her) …. angrily, because that’s how I would. And I’ve thought about it.”
-‐ Real Time with Bill Maher
New Conserva've Extreme
"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. ... No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out.
-‐ Glenn Beck
Where does the anger come from? Moral Judgments of the “Other” people fuel it, because, according to George Lakoff, Poli@cs is inherently based in
cogni@ve judgments (conclusions) about morality and moral priori@es
Poli'cal Anger is inherently Moral Outrage
Our Moral Systems affect how we interpret the
ac@ons of other people and how
we respond
The problem is, those labels have specific cultural connota@ons, leading
to addi@onal conclusions
Conserva'ves are…
“Intolerant” becomes associated with impa@ence, rage, a violent temper.
“Racist” is associated with cruel.
“Ignorant” is associated with “Stupid”.
Liberals are…
“Indulgent” is associated with laziness.
“Self-‐centered” becomes selfish.
In the process, a measure of accuracy about the political divide is sacrificed, as the reasons for people’s choices are simplified down to their internal rottenness.
Defini'on of Pride in 17th C. European Culture
• Biblical Origin in the Fall of Lucifer
• Eleva@on through Satan’s Example, as the Upmost Original Sin before “Original Sin”, in Medieval theology (Pope Leo the Great in 6th C, and Thomas Aquinas, 13th C)
• Prominence in Post-‐Reforma@on theology (Calvin) + philosophy (S@ll religiously based jurisprudence)
• Effect on Absolu@st Poli@cal Philosophy
(Divine Right versus Natural Right)
Peter Stuyvesant’s Moral Lens
Calvinism + Absolu'sm => The Sin of Pride It is a wicked decision to challenge the government, insis@ng that individuals have autonomous rights independent of the ruling authority, or worse, insist on changing government, and semng up their own moral authority, instead of accep@ng what God had ordained.
The Repriori'za'on of Jus'ce above Authority (Moral Metaphors) is interpreted as immoral
Examples • Stuyvesant’s Scripture quotes in his legal opinion, in counter-‐charge
against Melyn & Kuyter : – “Be subject unto the higher powers” (…for there is no power but of God: & the powers
that be, are ordained of God) (Rom 13:1); “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor Curse the ruler of thy people” (Exod. 22:28)
• References to “Subjects” and Vassals”
“Was it ever heard or seen in any republic that vassals and subjects did without authority from their superiors, conceive, draT and submit to their magistrates self-‐
devised interrogaCves to have them examined thereon?” – Counter Charge to Melyn & Kuyter
“I shall govern you like a father governs his children” – Director-‐general Stuyvesant’s 1st address to the people of New Netherland
• Stuyvesant’s rebu^al in answer to the Flushing Remonstrance of 1653. *Divine Right overrules Natural Rights as jusCficaCon for government.
Power lay not with “All men generally”, for “every one would want for Magistrate a man of his own stamp . . . A thief would choose . . . a thief and a dishonest man, a drunkard, a smuggler. . . their likes, in order to commit felonies and frauds.”
*3 Unexpected Research Finds $ The False Secular Divide: The nature of the fric@on between
the Dutch West India Company and Peter Stuyvesant was fiscal, not religious. The West India Company had a Calvinist internal business culture.
⚑ Dutch “Freedom of Conscience”: Not as libera@ng or as binding a tenet as assumed. It depended on the context of “Public” or “Private” worship, to frame the issue.
= Jews, Peter Stuyvesant & Dutch “Tolerance”: Stuyvesant referred to them as the “Abominable Religion” and the “Infec@on” of the colony. These “Hateful enemies…of Christ” were rogue elements, in the prac@ce of the state’s control of public religion as a social tool of shaping morality. This is 100 years prior to the precedent of “Separa@on of Church and State”
17th Century 21st Century (Post-‐Reforma@on) (Post-‐Enlightenment)
Religious Wars
Culture Wars
(Ideologies)
(S'll) Shaping a Moral Society
A Challenge to Reclaim the Founding Fathers’ Victory for a
“Free Exchange of Ideas”
“Congress shall make no law respecCng an establishment of religion, or prohibiCng the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to peCCon the Government for a redress of grievances.”
-‐ Amendment I The U.S. Bill of Rights