ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a favorable maritime location, changes in communication technology, changes in transportation technology, and the tradition of urban self-government favored the political breakthroughs in Britain and the Dutch Republic. In the early modern era a new political culture emerged in England and the Dutch Republic. This culture recognized civil rights for all citizens, usually propertied males, and instituted government that represented all citizens. Protestant maritime political culture was unique and represented a breakthrough in world history. Protestant maritime political culture can be better understood if one compares it to continental political culture. In England an example of pure Protestant maritime political culture was the Society of Friends. Protestant maritime political culture is unique in world history. Since its birth in northwestern Europe it has been widely dispersed. The foundations of freedom were commercial and industrial growth, the participation of wealthy commoners in political decision making, and the antihierarchical tendencies in the Protestant Reformation.
