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.[4]
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.[5]
The anti-Takkians won the 1894 general election, and the Liberal Union was confined to opposition. After the 1897 general election, the liberals regained their majority and a cabinet led Nicolaas Gerard Pierson enacted a series of social laws, including compulsory education for all children between the ages of six and twelve.[6]
In 1901, the progressive liberals in the party founded the Free-thinking Democratic League together with the Radicale Bond. This caused the liberals to lose their majority in the subsequent election. In the 1905 general election, however, a cabinet was formed by the two liberal parties, led by Theodoor Herman de Meester. In the 1909 general election, they lost their majority to the confessional parties again. The 1913 general election resulted in no clear majority; the Social Democratic Workers' Party was asked to join the liberals in a coalition government, but they refused. An extra-parliamentary cabinet was formed by Pieter Cort van der Linden, formed by liberals from all three liberal parties. This cabinet presided over the introduction of the 1917 Unemployment Act, which regulated the involvement of government in social security, with the government giving subsidies “for the voluntary unemployment insurance schemes of the trade unions and for unemployment benefit arrangements made by employers. In exchange for subsidizing the unemployment insurance system, the government insisted on defining the eligibility criteria for unemployment benefit payments (InfoNU, 2011).”[7] The cabinet also enacted universal suffrage and ended the school struggle.[8]
The Union started out as a moderately progressiveliberal party, committed to the freedom of the individual. Gradually it became more conservative. It was in favour of a small government, which nonetheless got its income from progressive taxation and would enact social legislation. The party was fiscally conservative. Furthermore, the party was in favour of the universal suffrage and proportional representation.
Development of the number of seats in the Lower House, of the 100 available. Before 1918 elected in single member districts, after that by proportional representation:
The Liberal Union formed a loose alliance with the League of Free Liberals and the Free-thinking Liberal League. The parties cooperated in several cabinets. The liberal legislation to extend suffrage and to better the position of workers was often supported by the Social Democratic Workers' Party.
^Public Or Private Goods? Redefining Res Publica, 2017, Editors: Daan van der Linde, Brigitte Unger, Michael Getzner, PART II NEW CORE TASKS: SOCIAL SECURITY 7: Protection against unemployment: a res publica? Brigitte Unger, P.119
![Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or. [The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.] The shield is crowned with the (Dutch) royal crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text (Or) "Je Maintiendrai" (French for "I will maintain".)](File:State_coat_of_arms_of_the_Netherlands.svg)
