In the second half of the eighteenth century the political landscape in the Netherlands was changing slowly but steadily. The two-centuries-old political system of the Republic, with its specific roles for the States General, the Pensionary of State and the Stadholder (the Prince of Holland), was starting to crack.

Influenced by the Enlightenment, a movement came into being that wanted to put an end to the power of the Stadholder and the regents. Instead, representatives of the citizenry were to form the decisive political power. The supporters of this movement called themselves Patriots. Their opponents were known as Orangists, or sometimes as 'Kezen'.

The Patriot movement did not have a clear and univocal political programme that was shared by all Patriots. The result was that groups of reformist Patriots got together all over the country with the objective to change, each in their own way, the existing political set-up. Nevertheless, in 1786 there were some successful attempts in a number of Dutch towns to dislodge the sitting regents from their seats with the help of Patriot militias. This caused major political tension and a civil war threatened to break out between Patriots and Orangists. The unrest eroded the stadholder's authority and he took refuge in Nijmegen.

When Wilhelmina, the wife of stadholder Willem V, set out in 1787 to stir the Orangists in The Hague into action against the Patriots, something unprecedented happened. She was stopped by Patriots at Goejanverwellesluis. It was the ultimate insult to the stadholder's authority. Wilhelmina's brother, the king of Prussia, in September of the same year sent 20.000 troups to restore order in the Republic with the stadholder's consent.

The Patriot militias were shoved aside without difficulty by the Prussian grenadiers, the stadholder's authority was restored and thousands of Patriots fled the country. They went to revolutionary France where they applied for political asylum. They were to stay there for years. Not until 1795 they returned to the Netherlands, accompanied by French troups.