Editing Dutch Republic (section)

==Politics==
{{main|Politics and government of the Dutch Republic}}

The republic was a [[confederation]] of seven provinces, which had their own governments and were very independent, and a number of so-called [[Generality Lands]]. The latter were governed directly by the [[States General of the Netherlands#Dutch Republic|States General]], the federal government. The States General were seated in [[The Hague]] and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces. The provinces of the republic were, in official feudal order:

# [[Duchy of Guelders]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Gelderland]])
# [[County of Holland]] (corresponding to the modern provinces of [[North Holland]] and [[South Holland]])
# [[County of Zeeland]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Zeeland]])
# [[Lordship of Utrecht]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]])
# [[Lordship of Overijssel]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Overijssel]])
# [[Lordship of Frisia]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Friesland]])
# [[Lordship of Groningen]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]])

There was an eighth province, the [[County of Drenthe]] (corresponding to the modern province of [[Drenthe]]), but this area was so poor that it was exempt from paying federal taxes, and as a consequence, it was denied representation in the States General, which is why the official name of the state was the "Seven United Netherlands" and not the "Eight United Netherlands".

Each province was governed by the Provincial States, their main executive official (though not the official head of state) being a ''[[raadpensionaris]]'' or ''landsadvocaat''. In times of war, the [[stadtholder]], who commanded the army, would have more power than the ''raadpensionaris''. In theory, the stadtholders were freely appointed by and subordinate to the states of each province. However, in practice the [[Prince of Orange|princes of Orange]] of the [[House of Orange-Nassau]], beginning with [[William the Silent]], were always chosen as stadtholders of most of the provinces.

Zeeland and usually Utrecht had the same stadtholder as Holland. There was a constant power struggle between the Orangists, who supported the stadtholders and specifically the princes of Orange, and the Republicans, who supported the States General and hoped to replace the semi-hereditary nature of the stadtholdership with a true republican structure.

After the [[Peace of Westphalia]], several border territories were assigned to the United Provinces. They were federally governed [[Generality Lands]]. These were Staats-Brabant, Staats-Vlaanderen, Staats-Overmaas, and (after the [[Treaty of Utrecht]]) Staats-Opper-Gelre. The States General of the United Provinces were in control of the [[Dutch East India Company]] and the [[Dutch West India Company]], but some shipping expeditions were initiated by some of the provinces, mostly Holland and Zeeland.

The framers of the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]] were influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces, as [[Federalist No. 20]], by [[James Madison]], shows.<ref>{{cite book |author=James Madison |title=Fœderalist No. 20 |date=11 December 1787 |publisher=Morrisiana, NY |url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers/No._20 |access-date=9 August 2013 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004235836/http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers/No._20 |url-status=live}}</ref> The United States did not intend to emulate the United Provinces; Madison describes the Dutch confederacy as exhibiting "Imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities; a precarious existence in peace, and peculiar calamities from war." However, the 1776 [[United States Declaration of Independence|American Declaration of Independence]] is similar to the 1581 [[Act of Abjuration]], essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces,<ref name = "UWM06291998">{{cite news |author=Barbara Wolff |title=Was Declaration of Independence inspired by Dutch? |url=http://www.news.wisc.edu/3049 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] |date=29 June 1998 |access-date=14 December 2007 |archive-date=13 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213022057/http://www.news.wisc.edu/3049 |url-status=live}}</ref> although there is no evidence of direct influence.

<gallery widths="180px" heights="200px">
File:Kaart van de Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden Belgii pars septentrionalis communi nomine vulgo Hollandia (titel op object), RP-P-AO-1-51B.jpg|Map of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands with colonies, c1707-1729
File:Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden.svg|The united provinces, with [[Drenthe]] and the [[Generality Lands]]
</gallery>