UCLA

This dissertation examines the transatlantic entanglements between the Dutch and American Patriots during the eighteenth century. Between 1747 and 1787, the American and Dutch Patriot revolutions shared ideological origins in classical republicanism, early liberalism, and Enlightenment thought. Based on this shared political ideology, revolutionaries in both countries created similar and interconnected institutions as well as initiated reforms that hearkened back to an imaginary past of ordered liberty. In addition, the Dutch and American Patriot revolutions were contemporaneous moments in history and intimately connected in political and commercial networks. They were thereby embroiled in interconnected events that moved each revolution forward. In thought and practice, through extensive transatlantic networks, and for more than four decades, the Atlantic Patriots formed the first phase in the Age of Revolution.