Flushing State Armory

This site could be considered the birthplace of religious freedom in America. Here, on December 27, 1657, a group of Flushing freeholders issued a proclamation calling for religious tolerance. One of them, Michael Milner, owned the house that stood here. At the time, Quakers living in Flushing were persecuted by Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant, who permitted only the Dutch Reformed religion to be practiced. In response, the freeholders addressed a letter to Stuyvesant. In that letter, known as the Flushing Remonstrance, the residents expressed their desire to let every man stand or fall to his own Master. The Remonstrance, the first of its kind in the New World, served as the inspiration for the First Amendment to the Constitution. The Flushing State Armory was built in 1905 to house various units of New York's National Guard.

New York, New York · United States