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The way in which French power was represented in those countries occupied by the Republic says a great deal about the relation between occupants and occupiers in these countries. The case of Belgium, the subject of this article, illustrates that these practices were very different in reality from the image created in traditional historiography. Far from limiting themselves to philosophical abstractions, the French administrators were aware of the sensibilities of the inhabitants of the Belgian departments, particularly their history. Indeed, their discourse revealed a desire to adapt the Revolutionary message to a Belgian public in an effort to legitimize French power. The ideological orthodoxy was often subordinate to this consideration. Moreover, these “politics of adaptation” were sanctioned by ministerial will. All these factors call into question the long-accepted notion of the politics of amalgamation and homogenization. These observations invite a new interpretation of the strategies of representation and the legitimization of power in the Belgian departments, as well as inside France itself.