Editing Dutch Republic (section)

===Amsterdam===
{{Main|History of Amsterdam}}
[[File:The Dam in Amsterdam, by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Dam Square]]'' in the late 17th century: painting by [[Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde]]]]
By the mid-1660s [[History of Amsterdam|Amsterdam]] had reached the optimum population (about 200,000) for the level of trade, commerce and agriculture then available to support it. The city contributed the largest quota in taxes to the States of Holland which in turn contributed over half the quota to the States General. Amsterdam was also one of the most reliable in settling tax demands and therefore was able to use the threat to withhold such payments to good effect.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hart |first=Marjolein 't |title=A financial history of the Netherlands |last2=Jonker |first2=Joost |last3=van Zanden |first3=Jan Luiten |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=29–36}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Regin |first=Deric |title=Traders, Artists, Burghers: A Cultural History of Amsterdam in the 17th century |date=1976 |publisher=Van Gorcum}}</ref>

Amsterdam was governed by a body of regents, a large, but closed, oligarchy with control over all aspects of the city's life, and a dominant voice in the foreign affairs of Holland. Only men with sufficient wealth and a long enough residence within the city could join the ruling class. The first step for an ambitious and wealthy merchant family was to arrange a marriage with a long-established regent family. In the 1670s one such union, that of the Trip family (the Amsterdam branch of the Swedish arms makers) with the son of Burgomaster Valckenier, extended the influence and patronage available to the latter and strengthened his dominance of the council. The oligarchy in Amsterdam thus gained strength from its breadth and openness. In the smaller towns family interest could unite members on policy decisions but contraction through intermarriage could lead to the degeneration of the quality of the members.

In Amsterdam the network was so large that members of the same family could be related to opposing factions and pursue widely separated interests. The young men who had risen to positions of authority in the 1670s and 1680s consolidated their hold on office well into the 1690s and even the new century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=Elizabeth |date=December 1993 |title=Amsterdam and William III |journal=History Today |volume=43 |issue=2 |pp=25–31}}</ref>

Amsterdam's regents provided good services to residents. They spent heavily on the water-ways and other essential infrastructure, as well as municipal almshouses for the elderly, hospitals and churches.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Charles H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GyqI-UjSTy8C&pg=PA158 |title=Serving the Urban Community: The Rise of Public Facilities in the Low Countries |date=2010 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-5260-350-6 |editor-last=van der Heijden |editor-first=Manon |page=158 |chapter=The Pillars of a New Community |editor-last2=Van Nederveen Meerkerk |editor-first2=Elise |editor-last3=Vermeesch |editor-first3=Griet}}</ref>

[[File:Jacob van Ruisdael - A view of Amsterdam 1665-1670.jpg|thumb|right|A view of Amsterdam, by [[Jacob van Ruisdael]]]]

Amsterdam's wealth was generated by its commerce, which was in turn sustained by the judicious encouragement of entrepreneurs whatever their origin. This open door policy has been interpreted as proof of a tolerant ruling class. But tolerance was practiced for the convenience of the city. Therefore, the wealthy Sephardic Jews from Portugal were welcomed and accorded all privileges except those of citizenship, but the poor Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe were far more carefully vetted and those who became dependent on the city were encouraged to move on.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Homer Williams |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0JAGMuePO0C&pg=PA372 |title=The Jews and the Expansion of Europe to the West, 1400–1800 |date=2004 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=9781571814302 |editor-last=Bernardini |editor-first=Paolo |page=372 |chapter=An Atlantic Perspective |editor-last2=Fiering |editor-first2=Norman}}</ref> Similarly, provision for the housing of Huguenot immigrants was made in 1681 when [[Louis XIV]]'s religious policy was beginning to drive these Protestants out of France; no encouragement was given to the dispossessed Dutch from the countryside or other towns of Holland. The regents encouraged immigrants to build churches and provided sites or buildings for churches and temples for all except the most radical sects and the Catholics by the 1670s<ref>{{Cite book |last=Israel |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NCvyi5_m6ScC&pg=PA111 |title=The Anglo-Dutch Moment: Essays on the Glorious Revolution and Its World Impact |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521544061 |page=111}}</ref> (although even the Catholics could practice quietly in a chapel within the Beguinhof).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunford |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=16nrEWPp-GQC&pg=PA58 |title=The Rough Guide to Amsterdam |date=2003 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=9781858288987 |page=58 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>