Poverty in Amsterdam at the Close of the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

According to the historian Kluit, the third quarter of the eighteenth century was ‘the happiest and most glorious period ever experienced by the Republic’.¹ There is still much to be said in favour of this view. It is quite probable that on the average the Dutchman in the eighteenth century lived better, than did his forefathers.² The economic life was flourishing, although the lead over the outside world had disappeared. The Republic had remained neutral in the Seven Years War. The Doelisten movement was already a thing of the past; Patriotten (anti-Orangemen) and Orangists had not yet begun to oppose each other and everything was relatively peaceful on the national political front.

This article is a slightly revised version of P.C. Jansen, ‘Armoede in Amsterdam aan het eind van de achttiende eeuw’, Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis, LXXXVIII (Groningen, 1975) 613–25.