Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

==Democratic and Industrial Development (1840–1900)==
[[File:Anton Mauve - Herderin met kudde schapen.jpg|thumb|left|''Shepherdess With a Flock of Sheep'' by [[Anton Mauve]] (1838–1888), of the [[Hague School]]]]

The Netherlands did not industrialize as rapidly as Belgium after 1830, but it was prosperous enough. Griffiths argues that certain government policies facilitated the emergence of a national economy in the 19th century. They included the abolition of internal tariffs and guilds, a unified coinage system, modern methods of tax collection, standardized weights and measures, and the building of many roads, canals, and railroads. However, compared to Belgium, which was leading in industrialization on the Continent, the Netherlands moved slowly. Possible explanations for this difference are the higher costs due to geography and high wages, and the emphasis of entrepreneurs on trade rather than industry.<ref>Richard T. Griffiths, ''Industrial Retardation in The Netherlands, 1830–1850'' (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979).</ref>

For example, in the Dutch coastal provinces agricultural productivity was relatively high. Hence, industrial growth arrived relatively late – after 1860 – because incentives to move to labour-intensive industry were quite weak.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baten, Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107507180 |page=19}}</ref>
However, the provinces of North Brabant and Overijssel did industrialize, and they became the most economically advanced areas of the country.<ref>Richard T. Griffiths, "The Creation of a National Dutch Economy: 1795–1909", ''Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis,'' 1982, Vol. 95 Issue 4, pp. 513–553 (in English)</ref><ref>Joel Mokyr, "The Industrial Revolution in the Low Countries in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: A Comparative Case Study", ''Journal of Economic History'' (1974) 34#2 pp. 365–399 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2116987 in JSTOR]</ref>

As in the rest of Europe, the 19th century saw the gradual transformation of the Netherlands into a modern middle-class industrial society. The number of people employed in agriculture decreased, while the country made a strong effort to revive its stake in the highly competitive shipping and trade business. The Netherlands lagged behind Belgium until the late 19th century in industrialization, and caught up around 1920. Major industries included textiles and (later) the great Philips industrial conglomerate. Rotterdam became a major shipping and manufacturing center.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loyen, Reginald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QG1R4StCc1gC |title=Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam Port. Competition 1870–2000 |publisher=Springer |date=2003 |isbn=9783790815245 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Poverty slowly declined as begging largely disappeared along with steadily improving working conditions for the population.

===1848 Constitutional reform and liberalism===
[[File:Van Gogh - Bäuerin, sitzend, mit weißer Haube.jpeg|thumb|''Peasant woman, seated, with a white hood'', painted in Nuenen in December 1884 by [[Vincent van Gogh]] (1853–1890). Born in [[Zundert|Groot-Zundert]], van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on [[20th-century art]].]]

In 1840 William I abdicated in favor of his son, [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]], who attempted to carry on the policies of his father in the face of a powerful liberal movement. In 1848 [[Revolutions of 1848|unrest broke out all over Europe]]. Although there were no major events in the Netherlands, these foreign developments persuaded King [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]] to agree to liberal and democratic reform. That same year [[Johan Rudolf Thorbecke]], a prominent liberal, was asked by the king to draft a constitution that would turn the Netherlands into a [[constitutional monarchy]]. The new constitution was proclaimed on 3 November 1848. It severely limited the king's powers (making the government accountable only to an elected parliament), and it protected [[civil liberties]]. The new liberal constitution, which put the government under the control of the States General, was accepted by the legislature in 1848. The relationship between monarch, government and parliament has remained essentially unchanged ever since. In fact, the current Constitution of the Netherlands is the 1848 Constitution, albeit with amendments.

William II was succeeded by [[William III of the Netherlands|William III]] in 1849. The new king reluctantly chose Thorbecke to head the new government, which introduced several liberal measures, notably the extension of suffrage. However, Thorbecke's government soon fell, when Protestants rioted against the Vatican's reestablishment of the Catholic episcopate, in abeyance since the 16th century. A conservative government was formed, but it did not undo the liberal measures, and the Catholics were finally given equality after two centuries of subordination. Dutch political history from the middle of the 19th century until the [[First World War]] was fundamentally one of the extension of liberal reforms in government, the reorganization and modernization of the Dutch economy, and the rise of trade unionism and socialism as working-class movements independent of traditional liberalism. The growth in prosperity was enormous, as real per capita GNP soared from 106 guilders in 1804 to 403 in 1913.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|loc=chapter 5}}

===Religion and pillarisation===
[[File:Nederlandgodsdienst1849.PNG|thumb|Religion in the Netherlands in 1849.
{{Legend|#008000|[[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]}}
{{Legend|#FF0000|[[Protestantism]] ([[Calvinism|Calvinist]])}}]]
Religion was a contentious issue with repeated struggles over the relations of church and state in the field of education. In 1816, the government took full control of the [[Dutch Reformed Church]] ({{langx|nl|Nederlands Hervormde Kerk}}). In 1857, all religious instruction was ended in public schools, but the various churches set up their own schools, and even universities. Dissident members broke away from the Dutch Reformed Church in the Secession of 1834. They were harassed by the government under an onerous Napoleonic law prohibiting gatherings of more than 20 members without a permit. After the harassment ended in the 1850s, a number of these dissidents eventually created the Christian Reformed Church in 1869; thousands migrated to Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa in the United States. By 1900, the dissidents represented about 10% of the population, compared to 45% of the population who were in the [[Dutch Reformed Church]], which continued to be the only church to receive state money.<ref>Corwin, "Holland" [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc05.h.ix.html ''The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,'' (1914) 5:319–22]</ref>

At mid-century, most Dutch belonged either to the [[Dutch Reformed Church]] or dissenter groups that separated from it (around 55%), or the [[Roman Catholic Church]] (35% to 40%), together with smaller [[Protestant]] (for example, [[Lutheran]]) and Jewish groups. A large and powerful sector of nominal Protestants were in fact secular liberals seeking to minimize religious influence. In reaction a novel alliance developed with Catholics and devout Calvinists joining against secular liberals. The Catholics, who had been loosely allied with the liberals in earlier decades, turned against them on the issue of state support, which the liberals insisted should be granted only to public schools, and joined with Protestant political parties in demanding equal state support to schools maintained by religious groups.<ref>J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts, eds. ''History of the Low Countries'' (1999) pp. 387–403</ref>

The Netherlands remained one of the most tolerant countries in Europe towards religious belief, although conservative Protestants objected to the liberalization of the Dutch Reformed Church during the 19th century and faced opposition from the government when they tried to establish separate communities (Catholics and other non-Protestants were left unmolested by Dutch authorities). Some moved to the United States as a consequence, but as the century drew to a close, religious persecution had totally ceased.

[[File:Old-Amsterdam 1891-street-1.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Street in Amsterdam in 1891 ({{Interlanguage link|Vijzelstraat|nl}} looking towards Muntplein)]]
Dutch social and political life became divided by fairly clear-cut internal borders that were emerging as the society pillarized into three separate parts based on religion. The economy was not affected. One of the people most responsible for designing pillarization was [[Abraham Kuyper]] (1837–1920), a leading politician, [[neo-Calvinist]] theologian, and journalist. Kuyper established orthodox Calvinist organizations, and also provided a theoretical framework by developing such concepts as "sphere-sovereignty" that celebrated Dutch society as a society of organized minorities. ''Verzuiling'' ("pillarization" or "pluralism") after 1850 became the solution to the danger of internal conflict. Everyone was part of one (and only one) pillar (''zuil'') based chiefly on religion (Protestant, Catholic, secular). The secular pillar eventually split into a socialist/working class pillar and a liberal (pro-business) secular pillar. Each pillar built a full set of its own social organizations, including churches (for the religious pillars), political parties, schools, universities,<ref>The oldest universities, in Leiden, Utrecht, and Groningen, had a secular-liberal character. In 1880 Kuyper opened a Protestant university in Amsterdam and in 1923 a Catholic one opened in Nijmegen. The Amsterdam municipal university, which opened in 1877, leaned toward secular-socialism, but was formally neutral.</ref> labor unions, sport clubs, boy scout unions and other youth clubs, and newspapers. The members of different ''zuilen'' lived in close proximity in cities and villages, spoke the same language, and did business with one another, but seldom interacted informally and rarely intermarried.<ref>A Dutch rhyme forbade intermarriage thus: ''Twee geloven op één kussen, daar slaapt de Duivel tussen'' [Two religions on one pillow, there the Devil sleeps in between.] On the decline of intermarriage see Erik Beekink, et al. "Changes in Choice of Spouse as an Indicator of a Society in a State of Transition: Woerden, 1830–1930." ''Historical Social Research'' 1998 23(1–2): 231–253. {{ISSN|0172-6404}}</ref> In politics Kuyper formed the [[Anti-Revolutionary Party]] (ARP) in 1879, and headed it until 1905.

Pillarization was officially recognized in the [[Pacification of 1917]], whereby socialists and liberals achieved their goal of universal male suffrage and the religious parties were guaranteed equal funding of all schools.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|page=57}} In 1930 radio was organized so that each pillar had full control of its own network. When television began in the late 1940s the pillars divided up time equally on the one station. In politics and civic affairs leaders of the pillar organizations cooperated and they acknowledged the right of the other pillars, so public life generally ran smoothly.<ref>Arend Lijphart, ''The Politics of Accommodation. Pluralism, and Democracy in the Netherlands'' (1975) is the standard analysis from a leading political scientist; Michael Wintle, "Pillarisation, Consociation, and Vertical Pluralism in the Netherlands Revisited: a European View." ''West European Politics'' 2000 23(3): 139–152, defends the concept; more critical is J. C. H. Blom, "Pillarisation in Perspective." ''West European Politics'' (2000) 23(3): 153–164.</ref><ref>Johan Sturm, et al. "Educational Pluralism: A Historical Study of So-Called "Pillarization" in the Netherlands, Including a Comparison with Some Developments in South African Education", ''Comparative Education'', (1998) 34#3 pp. 281–297 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3099832 in JSTOR]</ref>

===Flourishing of art, culture and science===
The late 19th century saw a cultural revival. The [[Hague School]] brought a revival of realist painting, 1860–1890. The world-famous Dutch painter was [[Vincent van Gogh]], but he spent most of his career in France.<ref>Richard Bionda and [[Carel Blotkamp]], eds. ''The Age of Van Gogh: Dutch Painting 1880–1895'' (1997)</ref> Literature, music, architecture and science also flourished. A representative leader of science was [[Johannes Diderik van der Waals]] (1837–1923), a working class youth who taught himself physics, earned a PhD at the nation's leading school Leiden University, and in 1910 won the Nobel Prize for his discoveries in thermodynamics. [[Hendrik Lorentz]] (1853–1928) and his student [[Pieter Zeeman]] (1865–1943) shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in physics. Other notable scientists included biologist [[Hugo de Vries]] (1848–1935), who rediscovered Mendelian genetics.<ref>Leo Beek, ''Dutch Pioneers of Science'' (1986)</ref>