Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

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company ensured that this informal council’s interests, exercised on behalf of the States General, could not be ignored. 56 The last changes to the draft were made in October 1620 and the charter was approved by unanimous vote in the States General on June 3, 1621. In the end, the WIC’s board of directors was to be composed of nineteen members, eighteen of them delegated by the company’s five chambers. But the States General's powers were much enhanced and the door was left open for this body, along with the Prince of Orange, to delegate their own representatives to attend the board’s meetings. As the subsequent minutes of the Heren XIX make clear, this is exactly what they did. 57 3. How many is XIX? The Politics of Representation The WIC’s charter was of course only a piece of paper. The difficult tasks of raising capital, electing directors, and organizing the chambers remained to be done. The contrast with the VOC is striking: whereas that company required only the coordination of functioning partnerships, with established directors, the WIC was designed to reach out to new groups of investors. The inclusion of Groningen and provisions within the charter that afforded directorships to any city in which investors subscribed at least 100,000 guilders meant that the company would draw from a broader geographical area. This had important implications, since the chambers were designed to serve as administrative hubs for regions that overlapped with, but were not identical to, the eight                                                          56 Even after these changes, the Raedt van Indien remained on the table. In July 1620, Prince Maurits of Nassau appeared before the States General to ask whether such a council would be included in the charter; in mid-August, only weeks before the charter was finalized, it appeared again, as one of the last three issues still requiring resolution. The other two issues were a chamber for Groningen and clarification of the rules concerning foreign investors. See the Resolutien der Staten Generaal, July 26, 1620 and Resolutions of the States of Holland, August 14, 1620. 57 See, for example, NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1 and NA 1.01.05 inv.nr. 9410-9411.   111
provinces. The creation of the WIC thus brought into being an entirely new layer of political organization, distinct from the provincial assemblies, and left to the primary maritime cities the responsibility to resolve amongst themselves their respective rights and obligations within the new chambers. This problem was then compounded by the requirement that the chambers be represented in fixed proportions at the meetings of the Heren XIX. Quite apart from the well- known dispute over whether the salt trade would be included in the WIC's monopoly, the matter of greatest concern to those involved in establishing the company was political: how would the chambers be constituted and who would represent them in the Heren XIX? The problem can be conceived of as one of numbers: in theory the council was to consist of nineteen members, but in practice almost three years of negotiation was required to determine precisely who would attend. This section of the chapter examines several episodes in the negotiations to resolve representational issues in the chambers of North Holland, Zeeland, and the Maas. Each of these episodes reflected a specific political compromise that contributed to the final dimensions and character of the Heren XIX. How many was nineteen? Addressing this question requires a careful look at the minutes of the first four meetings of the Heren XIX. The board’s first meeting took place in December 1622. 58 Before this the States General had on at least three occasions invited delegates to convene in The Hague to discuss practical concerns relating to the company’s management and to hash out their differences. The invitation to one such meeting, held in August 1621, specifically requested the cities to delegate individuals knowledgeable about matters of trade so that they could form a “standing college” on WIC                                                          58 NA 1.01.02 inv.nr. 4941. Report by Johan van der Meer to the States General, December 30, 1622. This meeting predates the first one found in NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, which is often assumed to have been the first meeting of the Heren XIX.   112
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GOVERNING THE FREE SEA: THE DUTCH W
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Abstract This dissertation takes a
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IV. “In the Service of Merchants
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for making the archive such an enjo
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Institute for International and Reg
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List of Tables 1. Delegates to the
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Illustration 1. Het West-Indische H
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eported to have said; any money sen
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nexus of commerce and power for whi
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Europe the Dutch Republic is emblem
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Although the VOC frequently used vi
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Van Dillen argued that over time th
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the Western Hemisphere.” 46 Far f
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anxieties it generated, and what pl
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capital from Zeeland in the south a
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number of document series within th
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character of Dutch political instit
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Illustration 2. Vergaderzaal van he
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ecords must be traced backwards—a
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of note.” 93 But it is clear that
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formative periods in the company’
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enhance the role of central authori
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trade in which the company had only
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5. A Note on Sources This dissertat
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1645. 110 The manuscript is found i
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period 1620-1636. 115 For the remai
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at São Salvador da Bahia de Todos
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the revolt pushed the colony’s fa
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Amsterdam newspapers did publish st
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year by the Hoge ende Secrete Raad
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the Portuguese, had crossed the Rio
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ead aloud, two resolutions were pas
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On Wednesday, the same day the ship
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with subtle differences of fact and
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The group consisted of Henderick Sc
Page 71 and 72: XIX. Each chamber selected delegate
Page 73 and 74: Inden naeme den heeren amen Saturn.
Page 75 and 76: Middelburg’s decidedly incestuous
Page 77 and 78: Illustration 6. Portrait of Johanne
Page 79 and 80: crucial role that he played in its
Page 81 and 82: When the meeting resumed on Monday
Page 83 and 84: and to steer the discussion towards
Page 85 and 86: were chosen from among the ranks of
Page 87 and 88: emphasized the considerable sums in
Page 89 and 90: 4. Johannes de Laet as “Informati
Page 91 and 92: devote myself to my books.” 129 A
Page 93 and 94: interests were adequately represent
Page 95 and 96: De Laet's substantive work in the A
Page 97 and 98: that, even at the beginning, De Lae
Page 99 and 100: De Laet’s presence at the meeting
Page 101 and 102: confessions under interrogation and
Page 103 and 104: Brazil this meant the Heren XIX, wh
Page 105 and 106: Illustration 7. Portrait of Willem
Page 107 and 108: peaceful settlement along the fring
Page 109 and 110: By analyzing the successive changes
Page 111 and 112: convene in Amsterdam; the following
Page 113 and 114: This formulation, which must previo
Page 115 and 116: Amsterdam or Middelburg. 29 In this
Page 117 and 118: (1566-1626), later burgemeester of
Page 119 and 120: placed next to his description of t
Page 121: That these two provisions remained
Page 125 and 126: The result was that the delegates f
Page 127 and 128: to the original charter gave the ch
Page 129 and 130: thus shows the political—as oppos
Page 131 and 132: 1/10 of the equipagie and two direc
Page 133 and 134: taken place. Once the draft letter
Page 135 and 136: Table 5. Seating for the delegation
Page 137 and 138: phase of the company’s Groot Dess
Page 139 and 140: to be understood the sending over o
Page 141 and 142: But by far the most important trans
Page 143 and 144: Illustration 8. Map of Mauritstad a
Page 145 and 146: geographers whose works remain a tr
Page 147 and 148: important military, administrative,
Page 149 and 150: noblemen played in overseas adminis
Page 151 and 152: good order, police and justice, and
Page 153 and 154: the council's size and authority, d
Page 155 and 156: servants. These individuals may not
Page 157 and 158: At this point the election was comp
Page 159 and 160: (Receiver General) of the United Pr
Page 161 and 162: Why did these candidates all refuse
Page 163 and 164: Alexander's name was almost certain
Page 165 and 166: None of the remaining records indic
Page 167 and 168: would be profitable and that their
Page 169 and 170: Haecxs thanked them for the honor t
Page 171 and 172: On June 22, 1645—just a week befo
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5. Wolter Schonenborch and the Ritu
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with the WIC presumably did not go
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Haecx recorded in his diary that on
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wavered, for De Laet, who was many
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privately to Brazil, legally or ill
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1. Introduction Chapter Five Free T
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left relatively open. 6 Where monop
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community saw greater profits in pr
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and close trade to private merchant
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trouble paying its bills, especiall
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means to capitalize the company wit
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director than his trade to Brazil,
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With the verhoging stalled, and ani
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e handled without gloves.” 55 In
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“walking the land half-naked” f
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While the resolution as a whole sho
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along with the two powerful Amsterd
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Cornelis Melijn, of a patroonschap
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this measure, he said, “no one in
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maintaining the company's solvency,
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colony, overestimated the number of
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And Maurits offered another argumen
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Stellingwerf, who sat in the States
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Provinces, plus smaller fees of 3%
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exclude private merchants from the
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clamoring for slaves. 136 The probl
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expedition's success, along with de
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trading locations on the Gold Coast
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directly from New Netherland, and s
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over trade was simply the projectio
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the area in which the company was b
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had not yet been renewed. 4 As the
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to the Dutch state, and that this d
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ookkeeping from late-fifteenth cent
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ambitions. 21 Although neither Spec
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expenses at each of the company's c
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included. 34 In Specx’s estimatio
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calculations yielded a profit of 41
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notes on these documents, suggest t
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It was, of course, a fiction. With
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to hang from the body [...] This sh
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van West-Indien (New World, or a De
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title page of the revised edition a
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It occurred to me that these miracu
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third in the Kort Verhael. This rep
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This extraordinary conclusion might
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enemy” and the positive effects o
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appeared in the late 1630s in the c
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versus settlement. He was also more
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An exceptionally cold winter delaye
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failure of Dutch imperialism from t
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that focuses on political and imper
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support to the WIC, but they also i
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Maurits predicted and which was not
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British Library Additional Manuscri
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Burke, Peter. A Social History of K
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Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An
Page 287 and 288:
Jonge, J. K. J. De Oorsprong van Ne
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Noorlander, Danny L. “Serving God
Page 291 and 292:
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Na
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1624-1654, edited by Marianne L. Wi
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