1. WOMEN IN DUTCH AMERICA:
HOW THE COLONIAL DUTCH CONTRIBUTED TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN
NEW NETHERLAND
Ashley Pollard
History 398: Cultural Identities in Colonial America
December 4, 2015

2. 1
WOMEN IN COLONIAL AMERICA:
HOW THE COLONIAL DUTCH CONTRIBUTED TO WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN NEW
NETHERLANDS
The tale of American colonization is a complicated history most often told from the
English point of view. In the United States, schools focus on the success of the English during
colonization, and then teach how the other European nations that settled America assimilated to
English social and legal systems within their colonies. This popular focus often mentions the
Spanish conquistadors or the journey of Henry Hudson, but it rarely invites the reader to an in-
depth study of other European settlers. Until recent years, American classrooms have operated
under the adage “history is told by the winners,” giving greater significance to the English
settlers who came to control the New World. Scholars are now researching the cultures of non-
Anglo-American colonies before English capture. This research demonstrates the significant
impact non-English settlers had on American colonization and the principles by which the nation
operates under today. This paper will specifically focus on the Dutch settlers and their
contribution to American colonization. Although their colony was short-lived, the colonial Dutch
of New Netherland impacted the social and political systems of colonial America through the
introduction of their unique culture and legal system.
In the early 1620s, the Dutch settled the colony of New Netherland, which extended from
what is now Albany, New York to what is now the state of Delaware. The Dutch West India
Company, a joint-stock company designed to oversee Dutch colonization in the New World,
sponsored the settlement because the location provided great opportunities for trade and
commerce. The fertile land and vigorous trade opportunities led many Europeans to New
Netherland. Settlers of the colony enjoyed social freedoms, such as freedom of religion, because

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the Dutch respected religious liberty. This freedom of conscience within New Netherland
attracted many Europeans and colonists who were experiencing religious persecution. This
attraction created a socially diverse and tolerant society within New Netherland that allowed
underrepresented social groups to prosper. These various social groups included a variety of
religiously persecuted groups and women. The Dutch culture provided a safe and prosperous
environment for these minority groups, and Dutch law allotted these people rights which they did
not possess within the Anglo-American colonies. Although these rights would gradually decrease
and eventually dissolve when the English capture New Netherland in 1667, the presence of these
progressive ideals are important to understanding the experience of the colonial Americans. This
paper will explore the way in which Dutch culture provided women with rights and opportunities
in the seventeenth-century colony of New Netherland; as well as, evaluate several women’s
experiences in the colony as these rights gradually dissipated following the English takeover.
For a large majority of history women lived in the background of society. Before the
feminist movement, American society rarely heard the voices of early American women, and
historians hardly bothered to study the American female experience. This is partially due to the
lack of female leaders within early society. As of recent, women’s history has become a hot topic
among American historians. Historians have begun to see that understanding American women’s
history is necessary in understanding American history as a whole. These historians find the
experiences of early American women in women’s letters, diaries, and legal documents. While
early American culture restricted the lives of women and their social involvement in a number of
ways, there were exceptions to the underrepresentation of women. The most prominent exception
to this underrepresentation was the Dutch colonies in North America. Located primarily in the

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Northeast, the Dutch colonies ran on the legal and social principles established in Holland.1
These principles allowed for women in Holland to be “so well vers’d in Bargaining, Cyphering
and Writing, that in the absence of their Husbands in long Sea voyages they beat the trade at
home.” 2 The Dutch’s unique values and laws allowed women to gain social standing that they
did not have in English colonies.
The most significant difference between the Dutch colonies and their English
contemporaries was that the Dutch operated under Roman-Dutch Law while English colonies
operated under the English Common Law. Roman-Dutch Law provided a plethora of
opportunities for women in the Dutch colonies because it advocated fair treatment under the law.
Because of the influence of Roman-Dutch Law in the colonies, the Dutch colonies of colonial
America allowed women to exercise social, legal, and economic freedoms that did not exist for
them in English colonies.
Social Freedom
This paper will first explore the social freedoms allotted to women in Dutch culture
because the precedents that allowed for these social freedoms were founded in Dutch culture
rather than law. Although Dutch culture was rooted within the customary laws of the
Netherlands, the social freedoms did not originate as legal rights, but rather social rights allotted
to the people through Dutch custom. It was this Dutch custom that influenced the law to allot for
1 Kim Todt, “‘Women Are as Knowing Therein as the Men’: Dutch Women in Early America,” Women in Early
America, ed. Thomas A. Foster(New York: New York University Press, 2015), 43.
2 James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elingae: The Familiar Letters of James Howell, (London, 1645), 141.

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both social and economic freedom, but the social freedoms originated with Dutch custom rather
than Dutch law.
Women in Dutch colonies experienced social freedoms such as religious freedom and
educational opportunity. These freedoms took foundation in the socially diverse and
economically-minded Dutch culture. Women were not necessarily given leadership roles in the
church because of this freedom, leadership within the church depended upon the member’s
denominational ties. However, Dutch culture allowed women to practice whatever religion they
wished and did not persecute them for the ways the worshipped. This freedom could allow
women to take leadership roles within the church, if their denomination allowed, because Dutch
society did not discriminate against female prosperity. Women were also able to gain knowledge
to become economically active through the Dutch education system. The Dutch commercial
focus cared not about the gender or spiritual identity of a person, so long as they were
economically beneficial to the colony. Because of this economic focus, the Dutch colonies
allowed women social freedoms denied to them in the English colonies.
Religious Freedom
Women in the English colonies were not able to gain social standing in the church, and
thus in social life, because the English colonies ran on moral code outlined by the laws in
Scripture stating things such as, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not
permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the
law.”3 Because of passages such as this and the important role religion played in English society,
women were unable to have high social standing in the English colonies. In contrast, women
3 1 Corinthians 14:34

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benefitted from the presence of Dutch culture because it focused upon economics rather than
morality.
Dutch culture allotted for freedom of conscience, which respects the right to follow one’s
own beliefs in the matters of religion and morality. Settlers throughout the colonies knew of
Dutch tolerance thanks to writings by men who had experiences in New Netherland and wrote
about the lives of the Dutch people. These men, typically English, did not appreciate the ways of
the Dutch and saw their tolerance as something of abhorrence. The political satire Amsterdam
and Her Other Hollander Sisters Put Out To Sea described New Amsterdam as “a Gally-
mophrey of all Religions; except only what's true and pure,” and that, “they account the best
Religion which brings most gains to them for toleration, were it the Turks Alchoran, that's their
best God that brings the most Gold.”4 The satire shows that the Dutch allowed peoples of all
religions to live within their colony as long as they contributed to the financial success of the
colony. This attitude of religious tolerance contrasted the English colonies which
excommunicated those who challenged the Puritan faith. Although English bias fills this passage,
it dictated the diversity and tolerance of New Netherland to its readers.5
Because Dutch tolerance was well-known throughout the English colonies, English
settlers who faced religious persecution and excommunication were aware of religious freedom
and opportunity offered by the Dutch. Women especially took advantage of Dutch tolerance in
the mid-1600s as colonial leaders suppressed their attempts to lead in the church. Two women
who faced such persecution were Anne Hutchinson and Lady Deborah Moody. The English
colonial court excommunicated both Hutchinson and Moody from the English colony at
4 Anonymous, Amsterdam and her otherHollander sisters put out to sea, by Van Trump, Van Dunck,and Van
Dumpe (London,1652), 3.
5 Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, "Dutch Contributions to Religious Toleration." Church History 79, no. 3, (September
2010), 585-613.

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Massachusetts Bay because they believed these women were undermining the church authority
by questioning Puritan doctrine. Upon excommunication, both women eventually relocated to
New Netherland in search of religious opportunity. It is important to see that English leaders
excommunicated these women because they found the women’s religious activity and leadership
threatening to the English colony. These women experienced freedom to live, lead, and worship
as they pleased within New Netherland, freedoms that the English colonies denied them.
Anne Hutchinson
The English leaders in Massachusetts persecuted Anne Hutchinson for challenging the
Puritan doctrine and leading a Bible study that included men. This persecution eventually led
Hutchinson to New Netherland in search of religious freedom and opportunity to discuss biblical
principles without fear of excommunication.
Hutchinson was the wife of a successful merchant and a Puritan woman whose family
followed Reverend John Cotton to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634.6 During her time in
the colony, Hutchinson served as a midwife to the local community. This service allowed her
influence among the people, which she used to discuss John Cotton’s sermons with the
community. The group steadily grew until it reached about sixty to eighty regular attendees.
These meetings posed a problem for the Puritan leaders who controlled the government at
Massachusetts Bay because a woman led them, and more specifically a woman who challenged
the Puritan doctrine led them. The content of Hutchinson’s meetings mainly focused upon the
“Covenant of Grace.” This teaching challenged Puritan beliefs, which according to Hutchinson,
focused on the necessity of works to prove one’s salvation. Because she taught against this in, “a
6 Nancy Woloch, Early American Women : a Documentary History, 1600-1900.Third ed. (New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill), 2014, 137.

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manner not appropriate for her sex,” the Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony tried
her for heresy before the church at Newton.7
During the trial, Hutchinson defended herself eloquently and Cotton dismissed those that
opposed her. She gave the Puritan leaders little hope of convicting her until the end of the trial
when she claimed to have had a revelation from God. She said that in the revelation God had told
her He would destroy all her enemies. This claim of direct revelation strictly contrasted Puritan
code, and gave the church officials the evidence they needed to convict Hutchinson of heresy and
excommunicate her.
Upon her excommunication, Anne Hutchinson began to pursue religious freedom. She
moved with her family to Rhode Island, however their time in Rhode Island was short lived.
During this period, Rhode Island was petitioning the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
to become a part of Massachusetts. As Hutchinson was now a widow and raising six children, the
thought of once again being under the rule of the intolerant Massachusetts Bay Colony gave
Hutchinson much anxiety. She and her family relocated to New Netherland in an attempt to, yet
again, find religious solace. In 1643, a short period after arriving in New Netherland, a group of
Indians killed Hutchinson and five of her children. Although her stay in New Netherland was
short and resulted in a tragic end, Hutchinson’s decision to move to New Netherland as a widow
searching for religious sanctuary is one that reflects the knowledge of Dutch religious acceptance
and freedom offered to women in New Netherland.8 Her stay in New Netherland is more
symbolic of the freedoms offered by the Dutch rather than the social mobility those freedoms
allotted her.
7 Ibid., 105.
8 Carole Chandler Waldrup. Colonial Women : 23 Europeans Who Helped Build a Nation,(Jefferson, N.C.:
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers), 1999, 56.

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Lady Deborah Moody
The English leaders at Massachusetts Bay Colony religiously persecuted Lady Deborah
Moody, another English woman, causing her to flee to New Netherland in pursuit of religious
liberties. Like Hutchinson, Moody faced excommunication for challenging the Puritan doctrine.
However, unlike Hutchinson, Moody was able to take advantage of the religious freedom offered
by the Dutch to gain societal leadership within New Netherland.
Lady Deborah Moody was the wife of Baronet Sir Henry Moody. Before her marriage,
her name was Deborah Dunch Avesbury. She became a lady upon her marriage to the baronet.
Her father was a Member of Parliament and an advocate of the constitutional rights of the
English people. Her husband died early in their marriage leaving Moody widowed at a young
age. Following the death of her husband Moody began experiencing discontent in England due to
social enmity towards her Anabaptist faith. 9 The Church of England was so intermingled into
the State that those of high station in the Church began gaining political roles within the State.
Dignitaries within the church used the court to persecute those who diverged from the written
doctrine in any way. Because of this, Moody felt it necessary to leave her homeland.10
Moody longed to make a home in an environment that would support her spiritually. She
made the decision to relocate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640 with hopes of finding
religious solace. While in Massachusetts, Moody joined the church of Salem and lived in that
area for a short period. She soon met religious persecution as the Puritans were highly intolerant
of other faiths. Moody was tried for heresy before the church of Salem because her Anabaptist
9 Anabaptists believe that Christians should save baptism until later in life because infants do not yet understand the
faith. This discredits the doctrine of infant baptism which was widely accepted by several denominations, namely
the Anglicans and Puritans.
10 James W. Gerard, Lady Deborah Moody: a Discourse Delivered Before the New York Historical Society,May
1880.(New York: F.B. Patterson), 1880.

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faith questioned the doctrine of infant baptism. Following her trial, the English court
excommunicated Moody from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and again she was without the
spiritually supportive home for which she longed.
Moody searched for a new home among the religiously tolerant Dutch, and found
opportunity for leadership within the colony. Many Anabaptists also left Massachusetts to follow
Moody to New Netherland. Moody displayed administrative skill through her role as a leader
among the Anabaptists on the search for religious freedom in the Dutch colonies. It was she who
found the area where the Anabaptists would make their home. Upon arrival in New Netherland,
the Director General of New Amsterdam gave Moody a land grant and she used her leadership
skills to begin a colony that was built upon religious freedom. Moody plotted the area and
planned the colony to be one that ran in the interest of the people. Because of her desire for
religious freedom and devout beliefs, Moody became a leader among the Anabaptists and the
first and only woman to found a colony in North America.
Although religious freedom in itself did not benefit women economically, it did benefit
them socially. Both Hutchinson and Moody influenced people through their faith, and sought the
opportunity to express that faith freely in New Netherland. Although religious freedom in New
Netherland did not provide these women with leadership roles within the church, it did benefit
their lives by relieving anxiety caused by religious persecution, and, in the case of Lady Deborah
Moody, allowed them to experience other leadership opportunities outside the church.
Education
Dutch social freedom also came in the form of education opportunities for women.
Because Dutch law allotted women economic freedom, Dutch girls had the social freedom to
attend schools and receive the same formal education as boys through elementary school.

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Because Dutch society enabled women to become merchants and traders, it allowed girls to
receive the education required to become economically successful. Following elementary school,
boys and girls split, and the girls’ formal education ended. However, female education did not
stop with the end of formal education. Women were able to receive indentures for service to
craftsmen or they could receive vocational training from family or businessmen.
An example of the informal education women gained is the story of Maria van Cortlandt,
a Dutch woman who received vocational training from her father. Maria’s father, Olaf Stevenson
van Cortlandt, was a businessman and worked in the brewing industry. Maria’s husband,
Jeremias van Rensselaer, wrote his mother about Maria’s involvement in the brewing industry
saying, “…in her father’s house she always had the management thereof, to wit, the disposal of
the beer and helping to find customers for it.” Maria’s experience in her father’s house
demonstrates that she received vocational training from him, possibly while learning from her
mother about household duties. Jeremias also reveals that Maria had the “management thereof”
meaning she had a managerial leadership role within this industry. Maria’s story demonstrates
the opportunities created for women through the informal education offered to them by the
Dutch.11
Legal Rights
The Dutch legal system was systematically and culturally different from that of the
English. Dutch social culture influenced the law of New Netherland through the implementation
of customary law, which accepts what has always been done and accepted by the law within a
culture. Because Dutch societal culture accepted women as partners to men both spiritually and
11 Todt, “‘Women Are as Knowing Therein as the Men,’” 48.

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economically, the Dutch law also accepted women and granted them rights not available to them
in English culture. It was through social culture that women obtained legal rights, and through
legal rights that women participated in the economic system. Thus, Roman-Dutch law was the
central factor in the Dutch female experience.
The English legal system categorized women under a law known as coverture. The
English derived the term coverture from the term feme covert, which means a married woman. In
common law systems (which is what the English abided under) coverture was “the protection
and control of a woman by her husband.” Coverture relinquishes all property rights of the
woman to her husband and removes the power of the woman to enter into lawsuits as an
independent person. Women under a common law system relinquished all their personal rights to
her husband upon marriage.12
The Dutch of New Netherland operated under a version of the civil law known as
Roman-Dutch law. This law combined Roman law with Dutch customary law to create a
codified system for judicial reference. The codes within the law of New Netherlands allowed
women independence status in legal proceedings. Women under Roman-Dutch law could own
property, partake in legal discourse, own and manage businesses, and commission trade without
male help, permission, or sponsorship.
Marital/Family Relations
Dutch law allowed women many rights within their marital unions. Women were able to
sign and orchestrate legal documents such as prenuptial agreements, get divorced, and own
property independently from their husbands. These legal rights were especially important and
12 Deborah A. Rosen, “Women and Property Across Colonial America: A Comparison of Legal Systems in New
Mexico and New York”. The William and Mary Quarterly 60. (Virginia: Omohundro Institute of Early American
History and Culture, 2003), 355–81.

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unusual in colonial American culture because they strictly violated the rules of coverture that
English colonies followed. Marital legal rights allowed married women to maintain ownership of
family inheritance, own property, and protect their finances and inheritance which they brought
into their marriage.
Margaret Hardenbroek De Vries, a widow and a wealthy merchant and ship owner, had a
prenuptial agreement drawn for her second marriage to protect her children’s inheritance and her
personal finances. Her first husband, Pieter De Vries, was a wealthy merchant and trader. Upon
his death, Margaret took over his business and began shipping goods to Holland to trade for
Dutch goods she could sell in New Amsterdam. When she remarried, the Court of Orphan
Masters requested that she present her daughter’s inheritance in an effort to protect her
daughter’s property from her new marriage. Instead, Margaret had her husband, Fredrick
Philipse, sign the prenuptial agreement prior to their marriage in order to protect the inheritance
her first husband left to her children as well as all the property, personal finances, business, and
goods that she brought into the marriage.13
The Roman-Dutch law allowed women to write wills independent from their husbands.
The will of Anneke Janse, a Dutch woman who was among the first to settle in the colony of
Rensselaerswyck, exemplifies this precedent of women having legal independence.14 In her will
Janse left her children and their families the estate and the valuables therewith to be, “equally
divided among them and used as their own free estate without the opposition of any one.” 15 This
line demonstrates not only the legal authority of the document and the protection it allowed
Janse’s children to have, but also heavily contrasted English common law practice which
13 Waldrup, Colonial Women, 89.
14 Anneke Janse, An account of Anneke Janse and her family : also, the will of Anneke Janse in Dutch and English.
(Albany, N.Y.), 1870, 32.
15 Ibid., 12.

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provides that the sons inherit more than the daughters. Had it not been for the Roman-Dutch law,
Janse would not have been able to dictate the destination of her possessions without the
permission of her husband. In addition, the government would have given her real property to
her eldest son because that was the rightful owner in the eyes of the English law.16
Property/Dowry rights
Dutch law provided women with the ability to own and inherit their own property. This
provision also allowed women to write wills and buy and sell property. Property ownership
allowed women both legal and economic freedom which they did not experience in Anglo-
America. Dutch law also permitted women the ownership of land which allowed them to oversee
and control their land. This provision opened doors of leadership to women in New Netherlands.
Women, whether single, widowed or married, were also able to write wills to appropriate the
distribution of their real and personal property. This was in stark contrast to Anglo-American
colonies that allowed the widow to live on only one-third of her husband’s property to draw from
and gave the remainder of the property to the eldest son.17 Rather than allotting all the real
property to the eldest son, Dutch law allowed women to write wills that would evenly distribute
her and her husband’s property amongst the children, whether they were male or female.18
Equal partnership
Dutch law treated men and women as partners within a marriage. Each spouse had right
to their “community of goods,” the real and personal property acquired within the marriage.
Upon the death of one spouse, the other was entitled to half of the couple’s “community of
goods.”19 During marriage, the law allowed women to buy and sell property because of their co-
16 Rosen, “Women and Property Across Colonial America,” 366.
17 Ibid., 368.
18 Ibid., 368.
19 Ibid., 367.

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ownership of the property.20 This equal partnership was evident through the content of the letters
husbands and wives sent to one another, and the wives control of the estate while their husband
was away on business.
Like Maria van Rensselaer, Alida Schulyer Livingston lived in the period following the
English capture of New Netherland. Alida, too, was subject to the gradual assimilation from
Dutch to English culture and law in the colony. Alida stemmed from the commercially dominate
Schulyer family, which was closely tied with the van Rensselaer family. Alida’s letters
demonstrate the equality of her marriage to her husband Robert Livingston, a Scottish
businessman and politician in New Netherland (now New York). In their correspondence, Alida
and Robert discuss the business of the estate and politics within the colony. Alida was in charge
of her and her husband’s affairs in Albany as he was away on business often.21 During their
discourse Alida uses the terms “ours” and “we” when discussing the estate and the money it was
making. She also conducted buying and selling while her husband was away. In one letter she
discussed their cow saying, “when I sold it, it was in the stable….I showed De Schouwer that
one and he let it go. I really cannot help this, so I got another cow.”22 This letter shows that Alida
had buying and selling power over her and her husband’s estate. This instance and Alida’s use of
the terms “ours” and “we” when discussing property proves that their marriage was an equal
partnership as what belonged to one belonged to both. Alida’s letters provide insight into the
marital dynamic and partnership within Dutch families following the English takeover.
Maria van Rensselaer’s husband also exemplified the high esteem he held his wife in, and
the respect he had for her through his letters with his mother. Jeremias wrote his mother to tell
20 Ibid., 367
21 Linda Biemer and Alida Livingston. “Business Letters of Alida Schuyler Livingston, 1680–1726”. New York
History 63 (2). New York State Historical Association (1982) 183–207.
22 Ibid., 197.

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her he was taking up brewing, “for [his] wife’s sake.” 23 this sacrifice demonstrated Jeremias’s
respect for his wife and her involvement within the brewing industry. He learned the craft
because his wife was involved and he wished to help her run her father’s business. This small
letter provides evidence of a man and his wife using their marriage as an equal partnership
between business partners, as well as a partner in a romantic relationship.
Economic Freedom
Dutch law and culture allotted women with certain economic freedoms that allowed them
to own property and partake in business. This happened both independently and through family
connections. Women were able to control and oversee areas of land, conduct trade and other
business, and even lead colonies. Many women in the Dutch colonies were involved in business
and the Dutch accommodated these women through their culture and education. Non-Dutch
leaders such as the King of England recognized female merchants and businesswomen because
of their financial success; however, these leaders were not as widely accepting of female leaders,
and as a result, these women faced challenges to their leadership by Anglo-American colonists
and their leaders.
Businesswomen
Margaret Hardenbroek De Vries Philipse exercised her Dutch right to own and operate a
business through her shipping and trade company. She came to New Amsterdam in 1659 with
her brother, who was on an indenture with a family there. In 1660 Margaret was hired to be a
business agent with Dutch merchants Wouter Valck, Daniel des Messieres, and others involved
in colonial trade.24 Margaret travelled to Holland on business quite frequently and regardless of
23 Kim Todt, “‘Women Are as Knowing Therein as the Men’: Dutch Women in Early America,” Women in Early
America, ed. Thomas A. Foster (New York: New York University Press, 2015) 43.
24 Waldrup. Colonial Women, 89.

17. 16
her family ties, she balanced motherhood and business in order to succeed. Margaret lived in the
period following English capture, therefore during her life New Netherland was under the rule of
the English. She, however, was able to continue her business tactics because the English were
still allowing the Dutch culture to influence the colony as they transitioned to English law. This
transitional period allowed Margaret to receive passage from Holland to New Amsterdam
between 1668 and 1669. The king granted this petition, thus acknowledging Margaret’s status as
a businesswoman. 25 This grant proves that Dutch culture and law regarding women’s rights had
an influence on other European powers, such as the English.
However, it is important to note that this Dutch influence was not long lived, and
Margaret seems to be the exception in English acceptance. Had it not been for her profitable
experience and connections with prominent male merchants, Margaret may have not obtained
this approval from the English king. Soon after the return from her voyage, Margaret, and other
Dutch women in New Amsterdam, found the English transition to be revoking the rights they
had so long enjoyed. Margaret no longer had rights to property ownership, and the British laws
forced her to defer to her husband in business affairs.26 Margaret died in 1691, and by 1700,
British leaders had done away with female trade and business in New Netherland.
Colony Leaders/Founders
Although Anglo-American colonies did not permit female property ownership because of
coverture, Roman-Dutch law did, and protected the property of the wife upon her marriage.
Because of this provision, women were able to rise to prominence through property ownership.
During the seventeenth century, property ownership was a symbol of wealth, and the most
influential people within society were the property owners. Property ownership allowed women
25 Ibid., 91.
26 Ibid., 92.

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to control areas of land and become overseers of that land. Two women who took advantage of
this freedom within the Dutch colonies were Lady Deborah Moody and Maria van Rensselaer.
Both Moody and Rensselaer became leaders of their areas and worked closely with government
officials to control their land and its inhabitants.
Upon her excommunication from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Lady Deborah Moody
relocated to the colony of New Netherlands in search of religious opportunity. When she arrived,
William Kieft, the director general of New Amsterdam, allotted her an area of land on which to
build a colony and promised her that her people would have freedom within to practice the
Anabaptist faith. Moody began planning and set about a layout for the colony, which she would
name Gravesend (located in modern day Brooklyn).
In the early stages of Gravesend, Moody prioritized her religious ideals while trying to
match the Dutch business focus. She originally wished for the town to be a commercial center,
but the harbor proved to be too small for commercial trade and business. The colony turned to
agricultural business in order to make their incomes. Moody designed Gravesend to be one large
square divided into four smaller squares by a central crossroad. The layout divided each square
among ten lots with a common field for cattle in the center. The colony operated under the
“liberty of conscience,” which provided the precedent of religious freedom these refugees were
searching for. 27
With the settlement of Gravesend, Lady Deborah Moody became the first and only
woman to found a colony. The charter for the colony was written in the name of, “ye Honored
Lady Deborah Moody.”28 Moody worked to achieve a democratic union within Gravesend and
27 Victor H. Cooper, A Dangerous Woman : New York’s First Lady Liberty : the Life and Times of Lady Deborah
Moody (1586-1659?) :Her Search for Freedom of Religion in Colonial America. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books,
1995.
28 Ibid., 107.

19. 18
resolved that it would be a land ruled by the people. Her experience with persecution played a
heavy role in the way in which she planned her colony. Moody’s perseverance through the
colonization process was fueled by her convictions for the necessity of a colony run in the
interest of the people, one that provides its people with the freedom to worship God how they
choose. Daniel Webster eloquently described the power of religious liberty in saying, “The love
of religious liberty is a stronger sentiment, when fully excited, than an attachment to civil
freedom…religious liberty…is able…to shake principalities and powers.”29 Lady Deborah’s life
exemplifies both the power of conviction provided by the need for religious freedom and the
opportunities made available to women within the Dutch colonies.
The Dutch colonies allowed women the economic freedom to be colonial overseers,
however, male officials restricted this freedom following the English takeover of New
Netherland in 1667. The life and work of Maria van Rensselaer, the female patroon of the estate
of Rensselaerswyck in New Netherland, demonstrate how women struggled to keep their
economic rights following the English takeover.30
Formerly Maria Van Cortlandt, the woman known for her managing role in the brewing
industry, Maria married Jeremias van Rensselaer in 1662. Jeremias was the patroon of
Rensselaerswyck, a title he received because his family owned the land the colony was fixed
upon. Patroons were any person given land and granted manorial privileges of that land under the
Dutch government. Rensselaerswyck was a colonial town located near modern day Albany, New
York. Jeremias and Maria had six children, but sadly Jeremias died and their marriage ended
after only twelve short years.31
29 Ibid., 113.
30 Joyce D. Goodfriend, "Maria van Cortlandt van Rensselaer." American Women Prose Writers to 1820,ed. Carla
Mulford, Angela Vietto, and Amy E. Winans (Detroit: Gale, 1999), 299.
31 Ibid., 299.

20. 19
Following her husband’s death, Maria became the acting patroon of Rensselaerswyck.
Because the government did not allow women official patroonship, instead they placed Killean
van Rensselaer as the official patroon and allowed Maria to act as patroon because Killean did
not live in Rensselaerswyck. During the time following her husband’s death, Maria was left with
the task of resolving her husband’s estate. Many of her letters deal with business and the settling
of her husband’s estate.32
In a 1681 letter to her brother, Maria outlines the issues that she is having with the British
government of New Netherland. Although Maria had control of the estate, she had trouble
dictating that control because she was a woman. In this instance, Maria was discussing a tax she
did not wish to pay on the estate. The British officials did not listen to Maria concerning the
period of the tax, she determined to contact her brother for his advice. She told the officials that
she was contacting her brother saying that she, “will await [his] orders” before acting. The
government’s approval of Maria’s decisions depended upon the approval of her brother, and
Maria knew this and used the governmental prejudice to her advantage by seeking help in males
which she trusted and knew would help her. This situation demonstrates that although the British
government accepted Maria as the overseer of the estate, they were not fully comfortable with a
woman having complete control of an estate without male supervision.
Maria van Rensselaer lived in the 1680s, following the English capture of New
Netherland. Her story gives insight into the way Dutch culture remained a part of New
Netherland following the English takeover. Although the reservation of Dutch culture allowed
Maria to maintain acting control of a colony, the government did not allow her official control as
patroon and she met many adversities while overseeing the estate because she was a woman. Her
32 Ibid., 299.

21. 20
story exemplifies how the lives of women changed following the English capture of New
Netherland, while still demonstrating the freedoms allotted to women by the Dutch.
Conclusion
Although Dutch colonization was successful, Dutch control of the colony was short-
lived. In 1664, English troops invaded the colony of New Netherland and took control of the
Dutch government therein. With the transfer from Dutch authority, an English administrator set
about the remodeling of the legal structure of New York to fit English traditions. He did his work
gradually, as not to upset the order of the colony.33
Part of the gradual efforts to remodel the Dutch colony was to anglicize the law in
regards to women. The English regarded women as the subordinate to her husband and reflected
this regard in their laws. Following the English takeover, assimilation came gradually, however,
in the 1690s the English began imposing their culture and laws more heavily within the colony
and through doing so changed rights that women had long enjoyed within New Netherlands.34
Two ways in which the English forced their laws upon New Netherland were by imposing the
law of coverture and eliminating female property ownership. Even in the case of widows, the
state only allowed women to keep their husband’s land and home for the forty days following his
death, after this, the state would give the land to the son whom it saw as the rightful heir.35 The
English wished to curb the amount of land a woman owned, so rather than giving the widow half
of her husband’s estate following his death, English law gave the land to the family’s eldest
33 Rosen, “Women and Property Across Colonial America,” 367.
34 Ibid., 367.
35 Ibid., 368.

22. 21
son.36 Although Dutch culture remained prominent within New York beyond the seventeenth
century through architecture and literature, the transfer to English Common Law essentially
erased women’s rights within the colony until the rise of feminism in the late nineteenth century.
Despite the short period they were in power, the Dutch proved that a society that allows
female independence is economically and socially viable. Female participation within the Dutch
colonies was an integral part of the development of New Netherland. Without businesswomen
such as Margaret Hardenbroek De Vries Philipse the trading industry would not have been as
vibrant as it was; without colony leader, Lady Deborah Moody, the colony of Gravesend would
not have existed; and without Maria van Rensselaer’s patroonship, the colony of
Rensselaerswyck would have failed. Wives such as Alida Livingston kept their merchant and
politician husbands updated on colonial happenings and handled their estates while their
husbands were away. The colony of New Netherland offered women the social, legal, and
economic opportunities they did not receive in Anglo-American colonies, and women used these
opportunities to create a place of necessity for themselves within the colony. Had it not been for
women, New Netherland would not have been nearly as successful. And had it not been for
Dutch culture, the women of the colony would not have been able to showcase their talents and
abilities and prove themselves essential to society.
In conclusion, the Dutch of New Netherland were influential to American history because
they allowed women social, legal, and economic freedoms that the English denied them. The
longevity of the Dutch colony is not as important as its influence in women’s history. Although
Dutch women would lose their rights following the English takeover, the Dutch society was
integral to success of women in colonial America. In addition, New Netherland proved itself
36 Ibid., 368.

23. 22
important to the greater American history by serving as an example of a society that successfully
functioned through both male and female participation.

24. 23
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