ABSTRACT
For, although in the early days of the Dutch Republic class distinctions were not as sharp as they became later in the seventeenth century and during the eighteenth century, class was a reality that permeated the whole life of the Dutch state. The paternal and enlightened regime of the upper middle class dictators usually benefited the whole community and class differences were accepted as an aspect of the eternal scheme of things. The relation between masters and domestic servants in particular was democratic. Outward differences between the classes became more marked. The Amsterdam patricians built their large and dignified houses in the new quarter by the Heerengracht, the canal of the regents, collected family trees made to order by professional genealogists, titles of nobility, and country estates. The contracts of correspondence were a symptom of the malaise brought about by the artificiality of the party struggle.
