I’m planning more posts about the following politically significant figures, about whom little is known in the non-Dutch-reading world…
Month: March 2019

Wybo Fijnje, Mennonite democratic revolutionary of the era of the French Revolution
I’m adding a space for a future profile of a significant figure in Dutch public life in the revolutionary era. Here’s a brief preview of a post I’m developing about Wybo Fijnje…

François Adriaan van der Kemp
Below is a pre-publication version of the following article:
Michael Driedger, “Kemp, Francis Adrian van der,” from The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment, ed. Mark Spencer (2015).
- NOTE: If you wish to cite the article, please make sure to consult the published version.
Updated: Nov. 2021

Maria Aletta Hulshoff
Maria Aletta Hulshoff, daughter of the significant Dutch philosopher and Mennonite preacher, Allard Hulshoff, was (like her father) an ardent support of democracy. among her writings was the Peace-republicans’ manual; or, The French constitution of 1793, and the Declaration of the rights of man and of citizens, according to the Moniteur of June 27th, 1793; in the original French, together with a translation in English (New York, 1817).
- The text is available online at Link to archive.org.
Other sources in English include the following:
- The Library of Congress has a letter from her to James Madison from June 1, 1814.
- The Wikipedia profile of the Maria Aletta Hulshoff needs work, but it is a good starting point.
- There is no Wikipedia post in English about Allard Hulshoff, and Nanne van der Zijpp’s short GAMEO article about Allard Hulshoff (which also mentions his daughter — casting her in a negative light) is very poor.
I will try to add to this post in the coming weeks.

“Mennonite Revolutionaries: An Oxymoron?”
On Friday, 1 March, I gave a public presentation at the Grace Mennonite Church in St. Catharines. My talk’s title was “Mennonite Revolutionaries: An Oxymoron? Examples from the Dutch Republic (1780-1810), and (Maybe?) Their Relevance for Today.” It was the second of four talks in a public discussion series called “Peace of Cake” (talks about peace church histories and ethics, plus continuing discussions afterwards over cake).
The handout I shared at the talk is this timeline…
I’ll add a few notes to the Dutch Dissenters Blog from time to time.