Stuyvesant, then, greatly increased the regulation of economic and social activity. Haiti Map Tourist Attractions The West India Company ended its monopoly of trade in the colony in 1647, however, and company officers often negated his decrees when colonists complained. Stuyvesant and Religion True to his religious convictions, Stuyvesant required attendance at Sunday religious services.
The director’s strict adherence to the Dutch Reformed Church created friction with colonists and company officers. In 1652, the director attempted to prohibit Quakers and Anabaptists from preaching in the colony. Two years later, he refused Lutheran settlers’ request to bring a Lutheran minister to New Netherland. Receiving complaints about the director’s obstinate behavior, company officials informed Stuyvesant that they supported his position but urged him to exercise leniency toward nonbelievers. When a group of Jewish settlers located in New Netherland in 1654, Stuyvesant sought to ban them from the colony.
The company rejected his request and ultimately adopted a policy of religious freedom. Stuyvesant engaged in considerable military activity as director. In 1654, the governor of New Sweden seized the Dutch Fort Casimir on the Delaware River. Stuyvesant, preoccupied with rising hostilities between New Netherland and New England, did not respond until the following year, when he led a force of 600 men against the Swedes. The 400 outnumbered Swedish settlers surrendered and agreed to Dutch rule.
