United Provinces

United Provinces Sheraine Gordon June 15, 1999 Mr. Tarr During most of the history of the United Provinces, allegiance and identity were based on provincial, civic, and sometimes also local rural sentiment rather than attachment to the Republic as a whole. In this respect, the loose federal structure, which evolved, was well suited to the disposition, and attitudes, of its population. In particular, politics frequently revolved around tension between the dominant province of Holland, and the rest …

…at any moment become a threat to the unity or coherence of the state. The problems raised by the conflicts between various forces within the Republic were never insoluble, and in fact even the great crises of the seventeenth century were overcome with a notable lack of violence and bloodshed--though on occasion, as with the sudden death of William II in late 1650, luck played an important part in making a peaceful solution possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**