Paragraaf 3.6 en 3.7

3.6

The American declaration of independence caused much excitement in the republic, because some people feared this challenge to monarchy, others supported it for several reasons:

-Some saw it as an imitation of the Dutch revolt against Spain
-Some saw it as a warning to the republic’s rulers to give more people more say in government
-Some were against the house of Orange and saw it as a challenge to monarchy
-Wealthy ship-owners and merchants wanted free trade with America
-Poor people saw it as an attack on the rich

France accepted the united states as an independent country on the 17th of October, 1777, and French troops

fought on the American’s side against the British, which made patriots think the Republic should fight the British, too.

William V disliked change and did not want to fight on the American’s side because he disliked their political ideas and he didn’t want to risk his large, but weak navy, this decision made William unpopular, so the Dutch sold weapons, ammunition and naval supplies to the USA.

The British wanted the Dutch to join their side, as agreed in the treaty that ended the third Anglo-Dutch war, but they didn’t.

The British navy stopped and searched Dutch ships, Dutch navy was too weak to stop it.

Britain threatened with war unless the republic stopped supplying the USA, we agreed, but broke this promise.
Britain declared war in 1780.
The Republic was the 2nd country to recognise the USA as an independent country, we broke a 100-year alliance with Britain

The war went badly for the Republic, there was only 1 real battle, of Dogger Bank in 1781.
Both sides said they had won it.

English fleets captured ours, war ended in a draw.

Patriots began as a Group that supported the American revolution

3.7
They grew into an anti-Orangist group wanting change in the republic, like having more say in government and being a powerful nation again

It was clear to the patriots that the Netherlands was not as important anymore, as it had been before, the army and the navy were less powerful

There were two patriot groups: the ones who thought this was repeating history and the ones who thought the revolution was about the influence people wanted in government

The republic had been powerful in the golden age, but it was over

The Netherlands had less economic and cultural influence - people in Europe changed from the Dutch living style to the French - people thought this was a bad thing

The States general and the stadtholder couldn’t agree on what to do about it, states general wanted changes but William V did not.

Citizens could change the government, America showed it by forming militia
In the free corps, every religion was welcome
In 1786 there were 26,000 members in free corps in the whole Republic
William V was fired after the Anglo-Dutch war

In 1787, William’s wife, Queen Wilhelmina, sister of the king of Prussia, tried to go to Holland to get its states to take William back, but she was stopped by the free corps in Gouda

She called her brother for help, and in September a Prussian army of 26,000 men invaded the Republic because of this insult on the king’s sister

The free corps did not fight and William was restored to power

Free corps = militia. People were not full-time soldiers but learned to fight in their spare time, they were normal tradesmen and shopkeepers.