“What other country [is there],” a wise man once wondered, “where you can enjoy such a perfect liberty, where you can sleep with more security … and where there has survived more of the innocence of our forefathers?” Such sentiments, seemingly proper to de Tocqueville and early America, in fact issued from another Frenchman, in another time and place: René Descartes, in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. 

Though born in France, Descartes spent most of his productive years abroad, in the tiny Dutch Republic, prodigy of western Europe’s early modern period. As were many other talented people from across Europe, Descartes was drawn to the Dutch political and economic miracle, a thing almost unheard of in an age of absolutism and religious intolerance: a free and prosperous republic that tolerated religious differences, freedom of speech, and an economy based on free enterprise. With its multiethnic cities, modern finances and international trade, and flourishing science, engineering, and art, the Dutch Republic, otherwise known as the United Provinces, was the first modern Western republic, admired and emulated in later years in England, America, and elsewhere.

Compared to many of its larger European neighbors, the Dutch Republic, which consisted of seven states corresponding to the modern-day Netherlands, did not enjoy optimal geography for the foundation of an independent republic. Unlike the Swiss Confederation, it had no mountains, and unlike Venice, it was not surrounded by water. It had a mild climate, abundant waterways, and plenty of arable land, to be sure, but it had no natural defenses against the many large and aggressive European states that coveted the lands of the Dutch for their wealth and access to the sea. 

This fantastic article is for subscribers only.

Login

Username/Email Address

Password

Remember Me

Lost Password?

JBS Member or ShopJBS.org Customer?

Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account username and password or use that login to subscribe.

Subscribe Now

Use code SUB25 at check out

• 24 Issues Per Year
• Digital Edition Access
• Exclusive Subscriber Content
• Audio provided for all articles
• Unlimited access to past issues
• Cancel anytime.
• Renews automatically

Subscribe Now

Use code SUB25 at check out

• 24 Issues Per Year
• Print edition delivery (USA)
  *Available Outside USA
• Digital Edition Access
• Exclusive Subscriber Content
• Audio provided for all articles
• Unlimited access to past issues
• Cancel anytime.
• Renews automatically