U.S. #1099 was issued to honor the 300th anniversary of the “Flushing Remonstrance,” a key event in the history of religious freedom in America. The 300th Anniversary of the Flushing Remonstrance Many of the colonists who came to the New World were members of religious groups who were persecuted in their homelands. Early colonies were established as havens to provide freedom of worship. Once in America, many of these settlements were unwilling to extend the freedom of worship to members of other faiths. Members of other denominations or faiths were sometimes jailed, imprisoned, or even murdered. The Flushing Remonstrance was a letter of protest from the citizens of Flushing sent to the governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, in 1657. It protests the persecution of the Quakers and calls for religious freedom. At that time, Stuyvesant was attempting to rid the colony of Quakers. Historians view the Flushing Remonstrance as the true initiation of religious freedom in America.