Epilogue

Abstract

The Growth of pamphleteering contributed to a development in the Republic that was by no means inevitable but which hindsight helps us to discern—namely, political discussion. Issues were no longer exclusively before the eyes of “those who ought to have knowledge of such affairs,”¹ but were now brought to the attention of “people who have no understanding of politics,”² the “common man, who possesses no discernment and judgment for these matters.”³ Interest in pamphlets and politics was extensive enough that it caused the politically powerful and their opponents to take notice and to increase their efforts to win the loyalties of the gemeente, which contributed to making the political importance of the gemeente even greater. We may now in cohesive form attempt to explain the proliferation of “little books.”