Akademik

(1801–1876)

   Historian and statesman. Keeper of the archives of the royal family since 1831, Groen van Prinsterer prepared the edition of the Archives ou correspondence inedite de la maison d’Orange-Nassau (13 vols., 1835–1861). He was a member of the pious Reveil movement, a Protestantrevival originating in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland. Inspired by his master Willem Bilderdijk, he developed a political theory that rejected the spirit and influence of the French Revolution, expounding his views in his lectures Ongeloof en Revolutie [Lectures on Unbelief and Revolution, 1847) and in his Handboek der Geschiedenis van het Vaderland [Handbook on the History of the Native Country, 1846]. Groen became a member of Parliament in 1840, 1849–1857, and 1862–1866. He was the spiritual father of the Antirevolutionaire Partij (ARP, Anti-Revolutionary Party), claim ing the right of the government independent of the will of the peo ple, and the adversary of the leader of the liberals, Johan Rudolf Thorbecke. He was an advocate of state-subsidized education in private religious schools.

   See also Historiography.