BOWNE, JOHN

BOWNE, JOHN. [1650–1694] Quaker leader arrested by Peter Stuyvesant for his religious beliefs. Bowne returned to Europe to appeal to Stuyvesant’s backers, who subsequently granted freedom of religion to the nascent New Amsterdam. That case is held to be the first test of religious freedom in the New World. Journal of John Bowne 1650–1694, transcribed and edited by Herbert F. Ricard. New Orleans, Friends of the Queensborough Community College Library and Polyanthos, 1975. Also published in The American Historical Record and Repertory of Notes and Queries Concerning the History and Antiquities of America and Biography of Americans, edited by Benson J. Lossing. Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1872.