The Dutch States Party (Dutch: Staatsgezinde partij, lit. 'Pro-States Party') was a republican political faction, and one of the two main factions of the Dutch Republic from the early 1600s to the mid-1700s.: 8–12 They favored the power of the regenten and opposed the Orangist "pro-prince" (prinsgezindheid) faction, who supported the monarchical aspirations of the stadtholders and the House of Orange-Nassau. The States Party was in the ascendancy during the First Stadtholderless Period (1650–1672) and the Second Stadtholderless Period (1702–1747).
Dutch States Party Staatsgezinde partij | |
|---|---|
| Ideology | Dutch republicanism Provincial sovereignty "True Freedom" (de Ware Vrijheid) |
| Party flag | |
| |
They were supplanted as the leading republican faction by the more democratic Patriots (Patriotten) after the Orangist revolution of 1747.
Ideological characteristics
Unlike modern political parties, the States Party and the Orangists were not necessarily distinguished by ideology. At the provincial level, choice of sides was driven by the contest for power between members of the Regenten class. Local groups often simply adopted the opposite position taken by their factional opponents, a reality made more complex by the rivalry between individual provinces. There was little explicit ideological coherence, and what there was often changed over time.: 10
However, since the days of the conflict between Maurice, Prince of Orange and Land's Advocate of Holland Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the States Party stood for provincial sovereignty, vested in the provincial States like the States of Holland, whereas the Orangists emphasised "supra-provincial" sovereignty, residing in the States-General of the Netherlands.: 15ff.
The supremacy of the provincial States was first defended by François Vranck in his debate with Thomas Wilkes in 1587 during the rule of the Earl of Leicester as governor-general under the English protectorate, and later taken up by Hugo Grotius in his De antiquitate reipublicae Batavicae (On the Antiquity of the Batavian Republic). The theme was taken up again during the conflict between stadtholder William II and the States of Holland (tuled by the Amsterdam regents like the Bicker family) in 1650, in which first the Prince prevailed, and after his death the States, ushering in the "True Freedom" of the First Stadtholderless Period.: 17
The doctrine of "True Freedom" was expounded by political philosophers like the Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt in his "Deduction" and Pieter de la Court in his the Interest van Holland (Interest of Holland) and De stadthouderlijcke regeeringe in Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt (History of the stadholders of Holland and West-Friesland). In these works the doctrine was extended into a distinctly anti-monarchical and pro-republican direction as a justification for the de facto abolition of the office of stadtholder in most provinces as "superfluous" and "positively harmful to the general welfare..": 758–790
Notable representatives
Some of the most important representatives of the States Party in the history of the Republic were:
Amsterdam Arminian clique
1610s-1630s
- Jacob Dircksz de Graeff
Bickerse ligue
1630s-1650
- Andries Bicker
- Cornelis Bicker
- Adriaan Pauw (partially)
Loevesteiners
1650
- Johan van Oldenbarnevelt
- Hugo Grotius
- Gilles van Ledenberg
- Jacob de Witt
First Stadtholderless Period
1650–1672
- Johan de Witt
- Cornelis de Witt
- Cornelis de Graeff
- Andries de Graeff
- Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen
Second Stadtholderless Period
1702–1747
- Anthonie Heinsius
- Isaac van Hoornbeek
- Simon van Slingelandt
- Anthonie van der Heim
- Willem Buys
- Jacob Gilles
wikipedia, wiki, encyclopedia, book, library, article, read, free download, Information about Dutch States Party, What is Dutch States Party? What does Dutch States Party mean?