Jan Willem Racer (1736–1816) Dutch jurist and patriot - Autograph and signed letter - dated 7. May 1811 Jan Willem Racer (June 1736 – October 2, 1816) was a Dutch jurist. At the time of his death in 1816 in Oldenzaal, Jan Willem Racer had practiced law for fifty-seven years. The eighteenth-century legal historian Jan Willem Racer was the most important patriot in Twente. In order to honour this important man from Twente and to bring him out of oblivion for the current and future generation, the J.W. Racerhuis Foundation, together with the De Groote Sociëteit Association, has taken the initiative to place a bronze statue in the vicinity of the house named after him on the Marktstraat in Oldenzaal, where he lived and worked until his death in 1816. It is the intention to use this image to draw attention to the significance of Racer as an advocate for the enlightened ideas of the Dutch patriot movement, which may be considered the basis for our current parliamentary democracy. On 29 April 2011, the statue was unveiled by the Queen's Commissioner. Eric Claus, professor of sculpture at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam from 1979-1990, designed the sculpture. The patriot movement was a typical 18th century political movement based on the ideals of the Enlightenment: the belief in the rationality of man. Characteristic of the patriots were also their old grievances against the oligarchy of the drost and the Orangeists. In addition to legal issues, Racer, as an enlightened mind, also began to take an interest in the political cause. Especially when a fierce battle erupted between the princes or Orangeists and the patriots in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The Orangeists were nobles and regents who, due to the government regulations, were almost entirely dependent on Stadtholder William V of Orange-Nassau (1741 - 1784) for their offices. There were two active currents within the patriots: the aristocratic patriots who opted for a republican rule of regency and the democratic patriots who opted for a rule of the middle classes in cities and in the countryside with administrative influence. In the political field, Racer was mainly committed to increasing the administrative power of the city of Oldenzaal, where he became one of the four mayors in 1786, and the other cities in Twente. Jan Willem Racer worked closely with another patriot, Joan Derk Van der Capellen tot den Pol. He was a nobleman from Gelderland who was a member of the Knighthood of Overijssel. The Knighthood included nobles who represented the countryside as representatives of Twente, Salland and Vollenhove. The cities were represented by regents from the three cities: Deventer, Kampen and Zwolle. Together, the Cities and the Knighthood formed the States of Overijssel. The battle of the patriots Van der Capellen and Racer was fought on two fronts. Firstly, in the field of foreign policy, in particular the recognition of the United States. The second front on which Van der Capellen and Racer manifested themselves was domestic politics in Overijssel with a strong emphasis on the abolition of the so-called drosten services. #C 176 Provenance: From a hundred years old autograph collection. Age and origin is guaranteed