After the Act of Abjuration was proclaimed in 1581 Delft became the de facto capital of the newly independent Netherlands, as the seat of the Prince of Orange.

* 1581 – Plakkaat van Verlatinghe ( Act of Abjuration ): the northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.

* The Act of Abjuration ( 1581 )

After the Act of Abjuration in 1581, the United Provinces flouted the authority of the King of Spain.

** The Northern Netherlands ( Union of Utrecht ) proclaim their independence from Spain in the Act of Abjuration.

That same year, the northern Low Countries ( i. e. the Netherlands proper ) seized independence in the Act of Abjuration ( Plakkaat van Verlatinghe ) and started the United Provinces and the Dutch Golden Age.

This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II.

In addition, the Act of Abjuration, essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces, is strikingly similar to the later American Declaration of Independence, though concrete evidence that the former directly influenced the latter is absent.

However, the Union contributed to the deterioration in the relationship between the provinces and their lord, and in 1581 the United Provinces declared their independence of the king in the Act of Abjuration.

When the northern Netherlands revolted against King Philip II of Spain in the Dutch Revolt, the three northern quarters of Gelderland joined the Union of Utrecht and became part of the United Provinces upon the 1581 Act of Abjuration, while only the Upper Quarter remained a part of the Spanish Netherlands.

Other gatherings such as the Union of Brussels ( 1577 ) and the Union of Utrecht ( 1579 ) paved the way for official independence of the Netherlands, declared in the Act of Abjuration in 1581.

* Part I (" De Materie ", 1986 – 1987 ): the 1581 Plakkaat van Verlatinge ( Act of Abjuration ), with a text on shipbuilding by Nicolaes Witsen and the Idea Physicæ of David van Goorle

The secession of the States-General and the area under their nominal control from the Spanish Crown was formalized by the Act of Abjuration of July 26, 1581.

By this time, the religious and political upheaval in the Low Countries had resulted in 1581's Act of Abjuration, deposing their king, Philip II of Spain and the subsequent eighty years ' struggle to confirm that declaration.

First page of the Act of Abjuration

The Act of Abjuration or Plakkaat van Verlatinghe, signed on 26 July 1581, was the formal declaration of independence of the Dutch Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.

The rebellious States-General decided on 14 June 1581 to officially declare the throne vacant, because of Philip's behavior, hence the Dutch name for the Act of Abjuration: " Plakkaat van Verlatinghe ", which may be translated as " Placard of Desertion.

A committee of four members – Andries Hessels, greffier ( secretary ) of the States of Brabant ; Jacques Tayaert, pensionary of the city of Ghent ; Jacob Valcke, pensionary of the city of Ter Goes ( now Goes ); and Pieter van Dieven ( also known as Petrus Divaeus ), pensionary of the city of Mechelen – was charged with drafting what was to become the Act of Abjuration.

This form, which is strikingly similar to that of the American Declaration of Independence, has given rise to speculations that Thomas Jefferson, when he was writing the latter, was at least inspired by the Act of Abjuration.

Nominally, Holland was still a county, but it had deposed its last count in the Act of Abjuration in 1581, and from then on essentially functioned as a province and not as a county.

One example would be the situation that led to the Act of Abjuration or Plakkaat van Verlatinghe, signed on July 26, 1581 in the Netherlands, an instance where changing sides was given a positive meaning.

Led by William of Orange, independence was declared in the 1581 Act of Abjuration.

It would have been understood by a Covenanter to be a promise not to resist the King's claimed supremacy in all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil, as claimed in the 1682 Abjuration Act.

Discontented with the hereditary system of allocating posts, the decline of Dutch East India Company Asian trade, unemployment in the textile industry, the course of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and desiring more democracy, the middle and upper classes looked towards the United States and its Declaration of Independence and the Dutch Act of Abjuration and began to reclaim their rights ( first written down in the 1579 Union of Utrecht ).

On August 6, 1861, Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act that authorized judiciary proceedings to confiscate and free slaves who were used to support the Confederate war effort.

He signed the Homestead Act in 1862, making millions of acres of government-held land in the West available for purchase at very low cost.

The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, also signed in 1862, provided government grants for agricultural colleges in each state.

The American Film Institute ( AFI ) is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act.

On September 25, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 ( ADAAA ).

When King Amadeus finally had the bill in his desk, which would extend the 1837 Abolition Act to the Antilles, he was put on notice of a coup financed by Cuban plantationers and industrialists if he signed.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ( ANCSA ) was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history.

Shortly after taking office, Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 on February 5, which required large employers to allow employees to take unpaid leave for pregnancy or a serious medical condition.

Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 in August of that year, which passed Congress without a Republican vote.

On September 21, 1996, barely three years after the " Don't Ask, Don't Tell " imbroglio, and further straining relations with the LGBT community, Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA ), which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.

In a July 2, 2011 editorial the New York Times opined, " The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996 as an election-year wedge issue, signed by President Bill Clinton in one of his worst policy moments.

As part of a 1996 initiative to curb illegal immigration, Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act ( IIRIRA ) on September 30, 1996.

On October 10, 2000, Clinton signed into law the U. S .– China Relations Act of 2000, which granted permanent normal trade relations ( PNTR ) trade status to People's Republic of China.

The UK signed the Berne Convention in 1887 but did not implement large parts of it until 100 years later with the passage of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

Cape Verde also is eligible for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act ( AGOA ), and has signed an Open Skies agreement to facilitate air travel safety and expansion.

He also signed the Worker's Compensation Act of 1910, which required a compulsory, employer-paid plan of compensation for workers injured in hazardous industries and a voluntary system for other workers ; after the New York Court of Appeals ruled the law unconstitutional in 1911, a popular referendum was held that successfully made the law an amendment in the New York Constitution.

* 1909 – New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signed the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.

On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan.

The National Environmental Policy Act ( 1969 ), the Clean Air Act ( 1970 ), the Clean Water Act ( 1972 ), and the Endangered Species Act ( 1973 ) all were enacted with broad bipartisan support, and ultimately signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon.

Roosevelt established the United States Forest Service, signed into law the creation of five National Parks, and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he proclaimed 18 new U. S. National Monuments.

Other legislation included National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA ), signed into law in 1970, which established a United States Environmental Protection Agency and a Council on Environmental Quality ; the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 ; the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Safe Drinking Water Act ( 1974 ), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ( 1976 ), the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1977, which became known as the Clean Water Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as the Superfund Act ( 1980 ).