Capital of the Netherlands of government. Between 1808 and 1810, during the Kingdom of Holland, King Louis Napoleon resided in Amsterdam and declared the city capital of his kingdom and seat of government. To accommodate the king, the grand seventeenth-century Town Hall of Amsterdam, prime example of the republican values that were prevalent for so long in the Netherlands, was converted into a Royal Palace. In 1810 the Netherlands were annexed by the French Empire and King Louis Napoleon was replaced by a French governor, who took up residence in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. From 1810 to 1813 Amsterdam kept its position of
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