AHC: Netherlands with USA-like govt.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is, with a POD after the Act of Abjuration, to give the Netherlands a system of government similar to that of the United States of America before the passage of the 17th amendment (direct election of Senators) while still maintaining the Stadtholderate.
 
Check out Widukind's "The Lights of Liberty" TL, it includes a Dutch Patriot-formed Republic of Batavia after a different Revolution (and partly inspired by a much bigger and more "Enlightened" USA winning its independence).
 
Well, as much as I appreciate that FleetMac refers to my TL here, I'm afraid it doesn't meet the criteria. The Stadtholderate, after all, gets abolished in The Lights of Liberty. Most "succesful Patriotic revolution" TLs will have that issue, so I'd suggest going back to Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. The conflict between the Prinsgezinden (supporters of the prince of Orange, generally centralist and religiously conservative) and the Staatsgezinden (supporters of the sovereignty of the provinces, generally decentralist and religiously tolerant) really determined the later lines of division anyway.

So instead of prince Maurits winning that conflict and having Oldenbarnevelt executed, have Oldenbarnevelt succeed, or have them reach a compromise. Either way, Maurits is still popular so he's not likely to get deposed. Instead, the Republic would remain firmly decentralist, with the Provincial States (assemblies) sending representatives to the States-General, and those representatives having no mandate to act without the Provinces' approval. The Stadtholder would be limited in his powers, and the Raadspensionaris (Oldenbarnevelt, in this case) would be like a powerful prime minister.

If Oldenbarnevelt wins, expect the national army to be reduced in size, and provincial armies and militias to be established. The Republic is also likely to be more religiously tolerant, with full political rights for dissenting Protestants (but not for Catholics; the Patriots advocated that 170 years later, but the early 17th century is too early for that kind of tolerance).
 
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Well, as much as I appreciate that FleetMac refers to my TL here, I'm afraid it doesn't meet the criteria. The Stadtholderate, after all, gets abolished in The Lights of Liberty. Most "succesful Patriotic revolution" TLs will have that issue, so I'd suggest going back to Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. The conflict between the Prinsgezinden (supporters of the orince of Orange, generally centralist and religiously conservative) and the Staatsgezinden (supporters of the sovereignty of the provinces, generally decentralist and religiously tolerant) really determined the later lines of division anyway.

So instead of prince Maurits winning that conflict and having Oldenbarnevelt executed, have Oldenbarnevelt succeed, or have them reach a compromise. Either way, Maurits is still popular so he's not likely to get deposed. Instead, the Republic would remain firmly decentralist, with the Provincial States (assemblies) sending representatives to the States-General, and those representatives having no mandate to act without the Provinces' approval. The Stadtholder would be limited in his powers, and the Raadspensionaris (Oldenbarnevelt, in this case) would be like a powerful prime minister.

If Oldenbarnevelt wins, expect the national army to be reduced in size, and provincial armies and militias to be established. The Republic is also likely to be more religiously tolerant, with full political rights for dissenting Protestants (but not for Catholics; the Patriots advocated that 170 years later, but the early 17th century is too early for that kind of tolerance).

Would there be any way to get a bicameral States-General out of a scenario in which the Staatsgezinden are successful? That's the only other thing that I'm looking for that you haven't already provided. An Alternate History of the Netherlands sort of does this, although there's a monarchy instead of a Stadtholder and the upper house is more of a House of Lords representing the nobility than a Senate representing the States (or Provinces, as it would be in this case).

Whether or not that's possible, what kind of changes would we see in TL like this?
 
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Crap, I missed that part about the Stadtholderate in the OP. In that case, I'll defer to Widukind's knowledge in this matter.
 
Would there be any way to get a bicameral States-General out of a scenario in which the Staatsgezinden are successful? That's the only other thing that I'm looking for that you haven't already provided. An Alternate History of the Netherlands sort of does this, although there's a monarchy instead of a Stadtholder and the upper house is more of a House of Lords representing the nobility than a Senate representing the States (or Provinces, as it would be in this case).

Whether or not that's possible, what kind of changes would we see in TL like this?

A bicameral States-General is very unlikely. The whole idea, much like in the early USA, was that every province had one vote, and that was specifically how they wanted it. Remember: this was a confederal union of sovereign states. Their whole revolution had been about securing that sovereignty and defending it against the centralizing ambitions of the Habsburg monarchy.

IOTL, the Upper House was only introduced in 1815 to appease the aristocrats after the Southern Netherlands were annexed by the newly-established kingdom. Such a thing could happen later on in an ATL, under completely different circumstances, but in the early 17th century the odds of getting a bicameral States-General are not promising.
 
A bicameral States-General is very unlikely. The whole idea, much like in the early USA, was that every province had one vote, and that was specifically how they wanted it. Remember: this was a confederal union of sovereign states. Their whole revolution had been about securing that sovereignty and defending it against the centralizing ambitions of the Habsburg monarchy.

IOTL, the Upper House was only introduced in 1815 to appease the aristocrats after the Southern Netherlands were annexed by the newly-established kingdom. Such a thing could happen later on in an ATL, under completely different circumstances, but in the early 17th century the odds of getting a bicameral States-General are not promising.

Would it be possible to maybe see an alternate rampjaar, in which they perhaps consider some mild centralization? Something similar to the transition from the American Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, though I would think it'd be somewhat more loose, considering the nature of the Netherlands at that point.
 
Would it be possible to maybe see an alternate rampjaar, in which they perhaps consider some mild centralization? Something similar to the transition from the American Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, though I would think it'd be somewhat more loose, considering the nature of the Netherlands at that point.

In the long run, the Republic was sure to face mutiple wars. While a system of confederation has many benefits, it does not make for a strong state that can easily deal with enemies. Especially since the Republic was rather small. An eventual disastrous situation is not unlikely, and would probably lead to centralization of certain matters.

IOTL, foreign affairs, the fleet and the army were tasks of the general government. In this ATL, the army would be smaller, and would instead be supported by separate provincial armies. Great for preventing forcible centralization of power by the stadtholder... not so great for preventing enemies from walking all over you. So at some point, I see the national army getting strengthened, and the provincial armies essentially becoming very much like national guard units.

Depending on how it plays out, the general government (and the States-General) might be charged with some additional tasks, but I'd sooner expect them to get a bigger share of tax revenue, so that more of the budget is spent on the national army and navy.
 
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