Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (31 October 1761 – 15 February 1825), Lord of Nyenhuis, Peckedam and Gellicum, was a Dutch jurist, ambassador and politician who served as Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic from 1805 to 1806. Historian Niek Sas called him the first Dutch liberal politician. Education Schimmelpenninck was born into a bastard branch of the noble family Schimmelpenninck van der Oye in Deventer, Overijssel on 31 October 1761. His father, Gerrit Schimmelpenninck, was a wine trader who had no rights in the Dutch Republic because of his commitment to the Mennonite Church. Schimmelpenninck attended Athenaeum Illustre of Deventer, and started studying Roman and Contemporary Law at Leiden University in 1781. He received his doctorate in 1784 with his essay De imperio populari rite temporato, in which he defended Rousseau's doctrine of popular sovereignty, although in which this is limited to the wealthy bourgeoisie. He also spoke positively of the Constitution of the United States with its dominating president in this thesis. The wealthy bourgeoisie, to which Schimmelpenninck belonged, was devoid of any power, particularly in the east of the Netherlands. This frustrated him and others who enjoyed a good education but weren't assigned influential positions in government because of their background and religion, since these were reserved to scions from the nobility and patricians, and limited to followers of the Reformed Church in the eastern provinces. He was one of the first Patriots as a student in Leiden. As the leader of an exercitiegenootschap, he suppressed an insurrection of Orangist students in June 1784. In October 1785 he was appointed by a congress of representatives of Holland exercitiegenootschappen in a commission, together with Wybo Fijnje and Pieter Vreede, to write the Patriot manifesto, known as the Leiden Draft. After receiving his doctorate, on 11 December 1784, Schimmelpenninck left for Amsterdam to become a lawyer. In 1788, he married Catharina Nahuys, a scion of a wealthy family who provided him with a lot of money and the necessary connections in the capital. Together with these connections, he established the Patriotic Vaderlandsche Sociëteit. The society was short-lived; it was disbanded in 1787 due to Prussian intervention. The Prussians restored the power of the stadtholder, William V, and his Prussian consort Wilhelmina. The Patriots were thwarted since, and a portion fled to France. Schimmelpenninck and his friends decided to establish a "scientific" society, the Kunst- en letterlievend Genootschap Doctrina et Amicitia, which