joan derk van der capellen tot den pol had been removed from the states of overijssel in 1778 and thus become an unemployed citizen. in the summer of 1781, he travelled to his villa appeltern, where he prepared his most radical action to be recognised as a politician. in "aan het volk van nederland", he mentions the injustice he faced personally in overijssel when trying to end the "drostendiensten", a form of socage (institutionalised feudal forced labour), but it is just one of many issues he addresses. although the sale and even possession of the pamphlet was immediately strictly forbidden soon after it was first spread, four reprints would be published in 1781 and 1782, not counting the english, french and german translations. in 1788, "aan het volk van nederland" again played a major role, because honoré gabriel riqueti reflected on it in his "lettres aux bataves sur le stadhoudérat" ("letters to the batavians concerning the stadtholderate").