Constitutionalism: The Republic Of England And The Netherlands

During the time period discussed in this chapter, two major forms of government were described. The first form of government is the idea of absolutism. In this state of government, kings amplified the claim that law was given by God and that they must respect and obey it. However, they did assert their rule like those who ruled under the idea of constitutionalism. Absolute rulers claimed that they were “chosen” by God and were responsible to him alone. They gained exclusive power to make and enforce laws and they denied any other institution or group that went against their form of government. This form of government were used by France, Russia, and Austria. The second form of government during this time period was the idea of constitutionalism.
No matter what, however, a constitution must get its binding force from the acknowledgement of the government that it must respect the document. This form of government was used by England and the Netherlands. The country I felt had the most interesting governmental development was the Netherlands. In the late sixteenth century, the seven northern provinces of the country battled Spain for their independence from the country. In 1648, the independence of the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands was recognized in the treaty that would end the Thirty Years’ War. This time period was coined as the “golden age of the Netherlands” because Dutch ideas and attitudes played a major role in making a new and modern viewpoint. Also during this time, the United Provinces became another model of the development of the modern constitutional state. The government of the country had none of the normal ideas of seventeenth-century politics. This interesting form of government developed by the Dutch was not a monarchy, but instead it was a fierce republic. In each province, regents, or wealthy businessmen, handled the domestic affairs in the local
They dominated the provinces of the republic and the States General. The success of the Dutch politically depended on the commercial prosperity. The morals and ethical bases were thrift, frugality and religious toleration. Jews enjoyed a level of acceptance and assimilation in Dutch businesses and everyday life in the Netherlands although there was evidence of anti-Semitism. Toleration would end up paying off for the Dutch because it attracted a lot of foreign money and investment. The Dutch also dominated the shipping business as a result of their investment into shipbuilding. They had the lowest shipping rates and became the largest merchant marine in Europe. This allowed them to undersell their competitors. The Netherlands had one of the highest standard of living in Europe and maybe in the world. Salaries were high and everyone ate well in the area. This meant that the Netherlands had very few food riots that were happening in the rest of Europe. I found the Netherlands governmental development the most interesting because in my opinion it was neither just one of the governments I discussed at the beginning of this essay, but instead it was a mix of the