Editing Batavian Republic (section)

===Struggle for a constitution===
[[File:Dans om de Vrijheidsboom (in Groningen), Johann Ludwig Hauck 1795.jpg|thumb|[[Tree of Liberty (symbol)|Tree of Liberty]] in [[Groningen]], 1795]]
Like the old revolutionary States-General, the new National Assembly contained radically opposed parties: the unitary democrats, led by [[Pieter Vreede]], [[Johan Valckenaer]] and [[Pieter Paulus]], and the federalists, such as [[Jacob Abraham de Mist]] and [[:fr:Gerard Willem van Marle|Gerard Willem van Marle]].<ref>Schama, p. 249.</ref> But there was a broad continuum of opinion between these poles. In this force-field the federalists held the upper hand after the sudden demise of Paulus (who might otherwise have acted as a unifier). The conservative federalists were more adept at parliamentary manoeuvering. [[Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck]] proved himself especially adept at this. The frustration this engendered among the democrats led them to appeal to popular opinion and to extra-parliamentary action. Meanwhile, the Assembly installed a constitutional commission that in November 1796 presented a report that amounted to a continuation of the old federal arrangements. As this was totally unacceptable to the unitarists, this draft was subsequently amended into its opposite, by a compromise that finally formed a basis for a new Constitution.<ref>Schama, pp. 258–259.</ref> The Assembly now began discussing other important matters, such as the separation between church and state, and the emancipation of minorities. The organs of the state were to be a bicameral ''Legislative Corps'', to be elected in indirect elections, and a [[French Directory|Directory]]-like Executive of five members. The end result looked much like the [[Constitution of the Year III|French Constitution of 1795]]. This was approved by the Assembly on 10 May 1797.<ref>Schama, pp. 264–266.</ref>

{{History of the Netherlands}}

The draft-Constitution was to be subjected to [[Batavian Republic constitutional referendum, 1797|a referendum]] on 8 August 1797, after a very lively campaign in which the French ambassador Noël weighed in with a supportive appeal. This probably contributed to the resounding defeat of the proposal (108,761 votes to 27,995).<ref>Schama, p. 269.</ref> The Assembly was back at square one. At this moment foreign events in the form of the [[French Directory#Rise of the royalists and coup d'état (1797)|18 Fructidor]] coup of General [[Pierre Augereau]] intervened. This brought the more radical faction to power in France, which proved to be ultimately less patient with the vagaries of the Dutch political process, and more prone to intervene. Elections for a second National Assembly returned one in which the balance of power had shifted to the unitarists in the Fall of 1797. Nevertheless, the federalists managed to retain control of the new constitutional commission by a bare majority. This led to more dawdling and the unitarists in the Assembly now came with their own proposal in the form of the ''Declaration of 43'' on 12 December 1797, containing a nine-point manifesto concerning the minimum conditions to which the new constitution should conform.<ref>Schama, pp. 295–296.</ref>

Now the course of events started to speed up. The new French ambassador [[Charles-François Delacroix]] took the side of the radicals. His behavior sufficiently intimidated the opponents of the radical proposals to actually fall in line. The coup that was to follow was therefore in reality superfluous. Nevertheless, the radicals, led by [[Wybo Fijnje]] and [[Willem Ockerse]], in collaboration with [[Pierre Auguste Brahain Ducange]], the secretary of the French ambassador, now started to plot the coup d'état of 21–22 January 1798, which, with the assistance of General [[Herman Willem Daendels]], put the radicals in power.{{Efn|Vreede, who is also credited with being a coup leader, was actually sick in bed at the time, though he had put his approval to the project beforehand.<ref>Schama, p. 308.</ref>}} A [[Rump legislature|rump assembly]] of about fifty radicals declared itself a [[wikt:constituante|Constituante]], which in one fell swoop enacted the entire radical program, while the other members of the Assembly were forcibly detained. All provincial sovereignties were repealed; the dissident members of the Assembly expelled; an "interim Executive Directory" empowered; and the constitutional commission reduced to seven radical members.<ref>Schama, pp. 306–309.</ref>

Though the resulting constitution has sometimes been depicted as a French project, it was actually a result of the constitutional commission's discussions between October 1797 and January 1798. Except for the purge of the electoral rolls of "crypto-Orangists" and other reactionaries, it might therefore have been acceptable for the moderates, obviating the need for the January coup.<ref>Schama, p. 314.</ref> In any case, the "suggestions" of Delacroix were rejected and the constitutional commission insisted on the following three essential points: [[Universal suffrage|universal manhood suffrage]], without fiscal qualifications.{{Efn|There were some qualifications, however. Domestic servants were excluded, as were men receiving public charity. The electoral system had a two-tier structure, in which primary assemblies of about 500 voters elected by voice-vote representatives to the second tier of electoral assemblies. Candidates for these secondary assemblies were required to be men of some substance, paying a certain amount of taxes. In other words, there were eligibility requirements for the [[passive suffrage]]. But these requirements did not amount to census suffrage for the franchise as such.<ref>Schama, p. 246.</ref> Though the republic had adopted a Declaration of Rights which in principle extended to women also, this was not yet driven so far that the franchise was extended to women. The fact that the early Dutch feminist [[Etta Palm d'Aelders]] was under arrest as a suspected spy at the time, probably did not advance the cause of [[women's suffrage]].}} the right of revision of the constitution at quinquennial intervals by the voters; and finally the rejection of the principle of a [[Bicameralism|bicameral legislature]], in which each House would have a separate electoral base.{{Efn|The constitution provided for a legislature, divided into two chambers, but those were elected as a whole and then divided by lot; this was actually a concession to spare French sensibilities.<ref>Schama, pp. 316–317.</ref>}}
[[File:1796-1797; Zitting Eerste Nationale Vergadering in Den Haag.jpg|thumb|First session of the [[National Assembly of the Batavian Republic|National Assembly]] in The Hague, from March 1796 to August 1797]]
Though the coup of 22 January 1798 did not bode well for a genuinely democratic approval process for the new constitution (and the French would have preferred going the "safe" way of approval by the rump assembly) the plebiscite that started on 17 March (in the usual form of elections in "primary" assemblies of about 100–500 voters) had a reasonably democratic quality. On 23 April 1798, the ''Staatsregeling voor het Bataafsche Volk'' was approved with 153,913 votes against 11,587 (i.e., just 641 more people voted for approval in 1798 than had voted for rejection of the previous draft in 1797; about 50% of the electorate had voted.)<ref>Schama, p. 321.</ref> The new regime therefore seemed well-grounded in the new doctrine of [[popular sovereignty]].<ref>Schama, p. 318.</ref>

The new constitution addressed many of the reformist concerns of the Patriots since 1785, including no hereditary offices; no [[sinecure]]s; and accountability of officials. It also came down on the side of [[economic liberalism]], as opposed to [[mercantilism]], in the economic debate then raging in republican circles, and therefore promised to do away with [[guild]]s and internal impediments to trade. The old provincial-repartition system of public finance was to be replaced by a system of national taxation. There was to be a five-man ''Uitvoerend Bewind'' as a collective [[Executive (government)|Executive]], with eight national ''Agenten'' (government ministers) doing the actual [[Public administration|Administration]], directing Foreign Affairs, Police and Interior, Justice, Finance, War, Navy, National Education, and National Economy.<ref>Schama, pp. 318–319.</ref> Most importantly, as historian [[Simon Schama]] states: "[i]ts central aim was to change the nature of the Dutch state and to bind its new institutions into the framework of an electoral democracy." As such it had an importance that outlasted the Batavian Republic and set up an ideal to emulate for its successor states.<ref>Schama, p. 320.</ref>