According to this act, the provinces of the Catholic Netherlands constituted themselves a confederation, under that name. The confederation exercised sovereign power, and controlled the common defense, the power of making war and peace, the recruiting and maintaining of a national army, the making of alliances, the coinage of a common currency. The power residing in the confederation was exercised by a Congress composed of deputies from all the provinces, who acted without referring back to the provincial states. Each province had a certain number of votes in the Congress: Brabant 20 votes, Flanders 22, etc. The confederated provinces made a declaration favoring the Roman Catholic faith and the maintenance of relations with the church as before the reforms of Joseph II. Each province retained its autonomy and sovereign rights, and all powers not delegated to the Congress. In case of attack all provinces were to join in the defense of the one attacked. This, we know, had been the dream of Emperor Charles V in the sixteenth century. The great ruler must have rejoiced in his grave! The Congress was presided over by a president, who held office for a limited period, and three committees were created within the Congress: one for political, one for military, and one for financial affairs. The president was assisted by a prime minister and a secretary of state. It is hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that there is a very close resemblance between the constitution of the Belgian Republic and the first constitution of the American Republic, whose articles were approved in 1777. The question whether the Belgian Patriots were in any way inspired by the first American constitution remains unsettled, as it has not yet been studied in this light.