History
The republic was a confederation of seven provinces, which had their own governments and were very independent, and a number of so-called Generality Lands. These latter were governed directly by the States-General (Staten-Generaal in Dutch), the confederal government. The States-General were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces.
The provinces of the republic were, in official feudal order: the duchy of Gelre, the counties of Holland and Zealand, the former bishopric of Utrecht, the dependency (of the episcopal seat of Utrecht) Overijssel and the free (i.e. never feudalised) provinces of Friesland and Groningen. Actually there was an eighth province, the dependency Drenthe, but this area was so poor it was exempt from paying confederal taxes and as a corollary was denied representation in the States-General. Each province was governed by the Provincial States; the main executive official was a stadtholder (stadhouder in Dutch). In theory the stadtholders were freely appointed by and subordinate to the States of each province. However in practice the Princes of Orange-Nassau, beginning with William the Silent, were always chosen as stadtholders of most of the provinces, and Zeeland and usually also Utrecht had the same stadtholder as Holland . There was a constant power struggle between the Orangists, who supported the stadtholders, and the Regent's supporters.
After the Peace of Westphalia several border territories were assigned to the United Provinces. They were federally governed Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden). They were Staats-Brabant (present North Brabant), Staats-Vlaanderen (present Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), Staats-Limburg (around Maastricht) and Staats-Oppergelre (around Venlo, after 1715).
The States-General of the United Provinces were in control of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC), although some shipping expeditions were initiated by some of the Provinces, mostly Holland and/or Zeeland.

Politics
Numerous historians and legal scholars have noted that the framers of the U.S. Constitution were influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces, which had successfully provided a workable governmental framework in that country for more than two centuries. John Adams went so far as to say that "the originals of the two Republics are so much alike that the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other."

Decline

History of the Netherlands
Union of Utrecht
Eighty Years' War
Dutch Golden Age
List of Grand Pensionaries
Francis van Aarssens