Manhattan is where America began.
The Dutch were among the earliest adopters of a new technology - the printed book - and
...the curious Dutch classification gedogen, which means 'technically illegal but officially tolerated. 
We are graced with a godlike ability to transcend time and space in our minds but are chained to death.
For individual freedom can come about only, can be conceived only, if there is some sense of security to life. 
A basic component of individual rights is the right to own property.
It was the Dutch of this era who invented the idea of the home as a personal, intimate space; one might say they invented coziness.
