'In keeping with our customs and traditions.' The first Belgian constitution (1815-1830) in its intellectual context In 1830, the National Assembly, Belgium's constitutional assembly, did not attempt to create the best possible constitution for the new state, but rather to draw up a constitution that would take the existing order into account on the one hand and that would be best suited to Belgian customs and traditions on the other. The works of Montesquieu played an important role in inspiring this 'pragmatic conservatism'. Many concrete arguments were drawn from his 'Esprit des lois' during the debates about the monarchy as well as those about the senate. Therefore, indirectly, the debates in the National Congress also serve to illustrate the enormous influence that 'Esprit des lois' had on political thinking during the Restoration period.