Liberal Union

The Liberal Union was a conservative liberal and progressive liberal political party in the Netherlands. A major party in its time, the Liberals were one of the historic predecessors of the Liberal State Party, and therefore of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. History After the Constitutional Reform of 1848, liberals became the dominant political force in the Netherlands. They were organised in loose political clubs and caucuses. Liberals were divided between progressive, centrist and conservative liberals, but because of the lack of organised political parties, these divisions were not very strong. In 1879 the division became explicit when a separate parliamentary party was formed by supporters of Jan Kappeyne van de Coppello. With the rise of both Catholic and Protestant parties, the liberals were forced to organise themselves better. In 1885 all the liberal political clubs and caucuses were united in the Liberal Union. The Union was factionalised: it had a progressive, a conservative and a centrist faction. In the 1888 general election, the liberals were forced into opposition by a majority of the confessional political parties. In the 1891 general election, however, the confessional parties lost their majority and a liberal cabinet led by Gijsbert van Tienhoven was formed. The cabinet's most important proposal is the relaxation of the census, proposed by minister of home affairs Tak van Poortvliet; the law would grant the right to vote to all men able to read and write. All political parties were divided on the subject and with a very narrow majority the proposal was rejected. In reaction to this the cabinet resigned and a new election was held. In this election the division between pro-suffrage "Takkians" and anti-suffrage "anti-Takkians" grew. The Liberal Union was also split on the subject. A group of conservative liberals left the party, remaining a loose political club until the foundation of the League of Free Liberals in 1906.