Liberal Party

The Liberals was a short lived French liberal political party which was active in several elections before being absorbed into the Doctrinaires, a fellow constitutional monarchy party. Several members of the Liberals eventually went on to serve in the Movement Party and even later in the Orléanist parties. The precedent set by the party would help form modern French classical liberalism, something used in the modern centre-right Republicans party. First Liberals Following the Charter of 1814, the new constitutional Kingdom of France was set up after the First Abdication of Napoleon. The new charter called for the creation of a two-house legislature, with the King retaining some of his power and titles. The new Kingdom was deemed a "constitutional, but not parliamentary, monarchy", leaving the King and his ministers with considerable power. One of the parts of this new charter was forced by the "Liberals", which would eventually bond together to form the Liberals party. This part, becoming known as the 'Liberal Article' called for selective suffrage to be adopted. This is granted to men of at least 40 years of age, who are charged 1,000 French francs of direct tax. Given these conditions, the politically active citizens amount to 100,000 voters and 15,000 eligibles. Following Napoleon's return, the Charter of 1814 became nulled, and a new charter, the Charter of 1815 was signed on 22 April 1815. The new charter was written by a future leader of the party, Benjamin Constant. During the subsequent elections held between 8 and 22 May 1815, the Liberals, now a fully formed party win in a landslide, capturing 510 seats in the 630 seat chamber. The party's win over the Bonapartists (80 seats) and Jacobin Republicans (40 seats), was seen by Napoleon as a direct answer to his return, and consequently began working with the Liberals during the Hundred Days. During the May election, the party was led by the famed Gilbert du Motier, Marquis of La Fayette and stood on a centre-left constitutional platform, designed to support Napoleon while holding him accountable. The May 1815 election was the only time the Liberals held a super-majority (indeed a simply majority) and held government.