Capital of the Netherlands to 1795 there remained a strong animosity between the Orange faction and the republican faction in Dutch politics. The former supported the idea of hereditary political leadership vested in the princes of Orange as Stadtholders, and had its powerbase in The Hague and the rural areas. The latter supported civic independence and found its support mainly in the cities and towns of Holland, with Amsterdam as its progenitor and most outspoken representative. When in 1814 the new kingdom was formed, the appointment of Amsterdam, still the most prominent city in the kingdom, as capital city was also very much a
Capital punishment in the Netherlands Capital punishment in the Netherlands Capital punishment in the Netherlands (Dutch: "doodstraf in Nederland") was abolished in 1870 in criminal law after the States General recognized it was "cruel and rude". The bill was introduced by liberal-catholic Minister of Justice Franciscus van Lilaar and debated in both the Senate and House of Representatives for seven days before approval. Following the abolition of the death penalty, life imprisonment was made an official punishment in 1878. A few years after gaining independence in 1815, the Kingdom of the Netherlands determined that the death penalty could be carried out through beheading. Between 1945