Bicentenary of the Dutch Constitution

Annexation by France



On 9 July 1810, Emperor Napoleon brought an end to the Kingdom of Holland (1806-1810) when he recalled Louis, his brother – who he had installed as king of Holland in 1806 – to Paris. He felt that his brother had sided too much with the Dutch and too little with the French Empire.

Holland, despite a ban imposed by Napoleon, continued to trade with Britain. The country provided hardly any revenue for the French treasury and, as an ally of France, contributed little to the war effort.

As a result, on 9 July 1810, Napoleon decided to permanently annex the kingdom.

At the time of the French annexation, key laws were introduced and institutions founded, such as the Land Registry, the registry of births, deaths and marriages, and the judicature. The Code Civil remained in force in the Netherlands long after 1813 and was to have a major influence on the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek).

1813 proclamation

18 November 1813 marked a turning point. After the fiasco of the Russian invasion and the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig (16 -19 October 1813), it became clear that Napoleon was no longer invincible.

In October 1813, the signs of resistance increased substantially, especially after Russian (Cossack) and Prussian troops had invaded Dutch territory in pursuit of the French after their defeat at Leipzig. It sparked off a wave of unrest.

Together with a number of other former regents, Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp decided to declare independence.

They issued a proclamation declaring independence and recognising the Prince of Orange as the ‘Supreme Authority’. The proclamation signalled the start of Dutch independence.

The Prince of Orange arrived in Scheveningen on the 30th of November 1813.

The constitution of 29 March 1814

One of the first decisions taken by Prince William was to set up a constitutional committee tasked with drafting a new constitution. Presiding over the committee was Gijsbert Karel Van Hogendorp. Despite having been subject to a whole string of amendments in the intervening years, the present-day constitution can still be traced back to the original constitution of 1814.

Around a third of the articles in the 1814 constitution related to the king, and the whole constitution revolved around his sovereignty and supremacy. The 1814 constitution was the first of its kind in the kingdom, and its significance is primarily institutional: it provided a framework for a new, largely centrally governed unitary state.

From now on, aspects of decentralisation would also be centrally determined.

One of the ancestors of a Dutch a current politician, Sybrand van Haersma Buma, also signed the first Constitution: Bernhardus Buma.

The constitution of 24 August 1815

In June 1815, a decision was made in London to join the Netherlands with the former Austrian Netherlands (Belgium). This necessitated a change in the constitution. To this end a new constitutional committee was convened with members from both sides.

The draft 1815 constitution was submitted to a meeting of notables in the North as well as the South. Whilst in the North, approval for the new constitution was overwhelming, in the South the majority voted against it.

Ultimately, the king decided that the constitution would be adopted, because those who had failed to turn up were deemed to have voted in favour (‘silence implies consent’), and because dissenting votes which had been cast with a view to rejecting the separation of church and state, were considered not to have been cast.

The separation treaty with Belgium, 19 April 1839 (Treaty of London)



Right from the creation of the Kingdom in 1815, there are problems between King William I and the Southern Netherlands. Its inhabitants are predominantly Catholic as opposed to those of the Northern Netherlands, who are Protestant. What’s more, the north has a much larger public debt than the south. Opposition to William I continues to mount after he issues the language decree in 1823. From now on, Dutch is the only official language allowed to be used in the Flemish provinces.

In 1830, things come to a head. What starts off as riots ends in a full-blown war. The Belgians form a temporary government which declares independence on 4 October. Shortly thereafter, Belgium is recognised by the European nations. But William I refuses to acknowledge the separation, which results in the Ten Day Campaign in August 1831. Whilst initially successful, the Dutch army is forced to withdraw following French intervention. The separation of the Netherlands and Belgium is now final.

However, only in 1839 does William I reconcile himself to the situation and accept the separation treaty.

The constitutional reform of 3 November 1848

At the end of the 1830s, it had become clear to Jan Rudolph Thorbecke that the political system on which the 1815 constitution was based was no longer tenable.

However, it took until 1848 – the Year of Revolution – until King William II was willing to have the constitution reformed.

Direct elections to the Dutch second chamber of parliament as well as to the provincial and municipal authorities were held. In addition, parliamentary powers regarding the monitoring and approval of budgets were enlarged. The principle of freedom of education was also introduced. Finally, prime ministerial accountability was included in the constitution.

This changed the basis of the political system fundamentally. In a word, 1848 was marked by the introduction of the parliamentary system. Nevertheless, this didn’t mean that the Netherlands had become a democracy all of a sudden.

The constitution of 18 May 1917

The first political parties emerged in the latter quarter of the nineteenth century. Their rise occurred simultaneously with an intensification of the political struggle.

The enlargement of electoral suffrage demanded a change in the constitution. Efforts to apply the principle of freedom of education centred primarily on the funding of special education.

Both the issue of more widespread suffrage and that of education were solved in the constitutional reforms of 1917.

The right to vote was extended, first to men, and from 1919 onwards – after a change in the law - to all women.

At the same time, the system of proportional representation was also introduced.

Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 29 December 1954Meer bewerkenOfKlik en typ of sleep een item uit de galerij hieronder.U kunt dit veld leeg laten.Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 29 December 1954The Netherlands had ‘overseas possessions’, but until the end of the nineteenth century this could only be derived indirectly from the text in the constitution, for example, the provisions regarding administrative responsibility for the colonies.



The Netherlands had ‘overseas possessions’, but until the end of the nineteenth century this could only be derived indirectly from the text in the constitution, for example, the provisions regarding administrative responsibility for the colonies.

Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 29 December 1954

The Netherlands had ‘overseas possessions’, but until the end of the nineteenth century this could only be derived indirectly from the text in the constitution, for example, the provisions regarding administrative responsibility for the colonies.

With the independence of Indonesia in 1949, the territorial expanse of these possessions was reduced.

For the remaining territory, the government sought to introduce equality across the various parts of the kingdom from the end of the 1940s onwards. This led to the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1954. This document takes precedence over the constitution and enshrines the constitutional law for all parts of the kingdom.

It also contains a description of all territories within the kingdom. The Charter defines the ‘affairs of the kingdom’, such as foreign affairs, defence, admission policy, policy on foreign nationals, human rights, legal certainty and proper governance.

In cooperation with the National Archive of the Netherlands and the National Committee for the Bicentenary of the Kingdom, Google has today made the original 1814 constitution of the Netherlands available for a wider readership in the unique online exhibition 200 years of the Constitution. This year, on 29 March 2014 we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Constitution of the Netherlands. For the first time ever, all documents have been brought together in digital format and made available in an online exhibition at the Google Cultural Institute.