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History of New Netherland: Difference between revisions
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Theodorus de Gelüs-Clérisseau fled north to Schenecktadie and urged support from their neighboring countries in against the revolts. However, he was eventually arrested in the same month, along with some of the members of the Patroon Council implicated in the Van Moock Customs Scandal three years earlier.
After a new constitution was ratified in June 1903, a special election was held in July. Bertelmeus "Mees" van Haerst was sworn in as the first raedspensionaris of New Netherland, the highest executive government position in the new republic. The new government is a unitary parliamentary republic, composed of the executive (led by the raedspensionaris), legislative (a bicameral States-General), and judicial branches. Mees van Haerst's party, the NNL Unity Party (Amerikaens: NNL Înheydtspartÿ), dominated the seats within the States-General. The NNL Unity Party was a coalition party composed of representatives from the different socio-economic sectors of New Netherland.
Mees van Haerst and his party were able to stay in power for eight years (2 terms of 4 years). Historians attribute these to several reasons:
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During the Quasi-War (1906-1908), the NNL Unity Party's popularity was high. However, after tensions cooled down, the party's constituents started to focus back again on domestic issues. Conflicting interests within the party led to its fracturing. The original NNL Unity Party still existed, but its supporters now mainly consisted of former peasants-turned-landowners in the rural areas. During the 1911 General Elections, the following parties vied for seats in the NNL States-General: the Unity Party, the Progressive Party, the Labor Party, and the Communard Party. Magnus Bartelsz of the Progressive Party was elected as the new raedspensionaris in 1911.
=== Progressive Party Rule (1911-
After the progressive party started its rule in 1911, the 1910s to 1930s has been known as the "Golden Era" of New Netherland in terms of both economic growth and political reform. The progressive government introduced many reforms including the Tax Reform Act of 1912, Social Reform and Poverty Act of 1913, and most notably the Women's Vote Act of 1914. Women's suffrage, which was long promised by the Mees van Haerst's Unity Party in the early 1900s, had only been realized by the Progressive Party in 1914. The pool of new voters in the 1915 National Elections of New Netherland led to Bartelsz reelection for a second term. The primary opposition parties during this period were the Communard-Labor Party and Democratic-Labor parties.
In 1915, Bartelsz launched a campaign to crack down on organized crime and mobster violence, which arose from the rampant smuggling during the years of the Quasi-War (1906-1910). More often, these groups of mobs were based around rivalling immigrant and worker groups, and had explicit political ties to the labor and communard parties of New Netherland. During the periods between 1915-
==== Involvement in the Floridan Independence War (1925) ====
During Maurits Thomas Hudson's tenure as raedspensionaris, the largest debate in government came near the end of his tenure. The progressive party's opinion on the Floridan Independence movement during the late 1920s was split. During the [[European Economic Crisis]] of the first half of the 1920s, The Dominion of Florida (under Spain) sold large holdings of land and sharecropping contracts to New Netherlander businessmen in order to stay afloat. Hudson believed that it was New Netherland's responsibility to protect the interests of these New Netherlanders, and concluded that it intervention was necessary. Hudson passed a motion to support Spain in their war against the Floridan revolutionaries, and narrowly passed the States-General. In 1925, New Netherland officially declared their support for Spain and the Dominion of Florida.
Over the course of the war from 1925-1929, New Netherland's support started off as economic assistance to Spain, but eventually grew into aerial scouting missions and direct military support, but only in a supporting role. The war was widely publicized at home, with the government publicizing images of New Netherlander aircraft and mercenaries in action in Florida. The Battle of Amarillo, in particular, captivated the New Netherland public into support for the war. However, despite the heroic imagery of New Netherland's involvement in the war, the war was not going well for Spain and New Netherland. Skeptics in New Netherland started to question the massive investment of the government into the war effort, even causing a schism of opinion within the ruling progressive party itself. Despite this, Hudson remain committed to the war effort, as he believed that it would be a bad image for the Progressive Party during the upcoming 1927 elections.
A group of progressives split off from the Progressive Party and teamed up with several members from Înheydspartÿ, New Netherland's first political party in power during the 1903 revolution. They formed a new political alliance, called the Vrÿlotpartÿ (or Free Destiny Party in English). The new party was led by Christiaen Huysman, nephew of the 2nd raedspensionaris, Magnus Bartelsz. The Free Destiny Party called for the end of New Netherland's involvement in the Floridan Independence War, which they saw as a hopeless and wasteful endeavor. The party also employed the use of muckrakers to discredit the incumbent government.
=== New Netherland under the Free Destiny Party (1927) ===
The Free Destiny party won the 1927 elections, and after the port city of Santa Cruz fell to the rebels on 9 March 1927, immediately formally dropped out of the conflict. The new government of New Netherland pressured the Spanish to surrender. Spain eventually surrendered on 12 April 1927, and the independent Republic of Florida was established.
The government of Christiaen Huysman introduced new regulations in New Netherland economic policy, most notably the regularization of railroad rates and expansion of the education system. Huysman was succeeded by Jan Kaspar Knip after the 1931 elections.
==== Jan Kaspar Knip and the "American Way" (1931) ====
Jan Kaspar Knip, inducted as Raedspensionaris in 1931, introduced the concept of the "American Way." Knip believed that New Netherland, as the first nation to gain independence in North America, had a responsibility to build an independent "American Community of Nations," together sharing ideals against European neocolonialism and corruption.
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of Raedspensionarises in the 20th Century
!No.
!Name
!Political Party
!Term of Office
!Length of Tenure
!Notes
|-
|1
|'''Barteelmeus "Mees" van Haerst'''
|Unity Party (Înheydspartÿ)
|1903-1911
|8 years (2 terms)
|First Raedspensionaris of New Netherland.
|-
|2
|'''Magnus Cornelius Bartelsz'''
|Progressive Party (Progressievpartÿ)
|1911-1919
|8 years (2 terms)
|
|-
|3
|'''Johannes Karsen'''
|Progressive Party (Progressievpartÿ)
|1919-1923
|4 years
|
|-
|4
|'''Maurits Thomas Hudson'''
|Progressive Party (Progressievpartÿ)
|1923-1927
|4 years
|Supported Spain and the dominion government of Florida during the [[Florida#The Everglades War and Floridian Independence|Floridan War of Independence]].
|-
|5
|'''Christiaen Huysman'''
|Free Destiny Party (Vrÿlotpartÿ)
|1927-1931
|4 years
|Founder of the Free Destiny Party.
|-
|6
|'''Jan Kaspar Knip'''
|Free Destiny Party (Vrÿlotpartÿ)
|1931-1939
|8 years (2 terms)
|Supporter of interventionism in North America. Spearheaded NNL's involvement in the [[Virginia#Yorktown Landings, and the Conservative Coup (1934)|1934 Virginian Revolution]] and the liberation of New England.
|}
== See also ==
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