The Dutch Revolt and historical memory in the American Revolution

Abstract

This article examines the influence of the Dutch Revolt on the American Revolution. Many historians have emphasized the contributions of English and Roman history in guiding American Revolutionaries, but the Dutch Revolt was also an essential part of their ideological repertoire. Because of the similarities between the two events, the Dutch Revolt was a uniquely versatile historical memory, and Americans applied it to all steps of the revolutionary process. From the beginning to the end of the Revolution, American intellectuals saw parallels between their situation and that of the sixteenth-century Low Countries. Many Americans thought overreaching British policy mirrored Spain’s treatment of the Netherlands. When the Imperial Crisis escalated into open war, American Revolutionaries saw the Dutch Revolt as evidence that a collection of loosely united provinces could win a war of independence against a global superpower. This recollection made the Dutch Revolt a particularly distinct memory, because no other historical event could offer such a similar example of a war for national independence. Understanding the influence of the Dutch Revolt on the American Revolution not only adds a new ingredient to our understanding of revolutionary ideology but causes us to rethink how Americans applied the past to their Revolution.