The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, is a party of the centre-right that tries to promote private enterprise and economic liberalism.
The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands can be described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by a common striving for broad consensus on important issues, within both of the political community and society as a whole.
William III was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 1890. He was also the Duke of Limburg from 1849 until the abolition of the duchy in 1866.
Liberalism in the Netherlands started as an anti-monarchical effort spearheaded by the Dutch statesman Thorbecke, who almost single-handedly wrote the 1848 Constitution of the Netherlands that turned the country into a constitutional monarchy.
Willem Anne, Baron Schimmelpenninck van der Oye was a Dutch politician.
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke was a Dutch liberal statesman, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. Thorbecke is best known for heading the commission that drafted the revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands in 1848, amidst the liberal democratic revolutions of 1848. The new constitution transformed the country from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy, with the States General and the Council of Ministers becoming more powerful than the king. The amended constitution also granted individual rights to residents and citizens of the kingdom. This made the constitution one of the more progressive at the time. Thorbecke is generally considered a founding father of the modern political system of the Netherlands.
Pieter Philip van Bosse was a Dutch liberal politician. Serving as minister of Finance in six cabinets throughout the middle of the 19th century, Van Bosse led many reforms that liberalised the Dutch economy. He led a cabinet himself as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 4 June 1868 to 4 January 1871.
Jacobus Mattheüs de Kempenaer was a Dutch politician and lawyer who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from November 1848 to November 1849. He served as a member of the House of Representatives, chairman of the board of Commerce for Arnhem, a member of the city board, and a member of the Provincial States of Gelderland.
Isaäc Dignus Fransen van de Putte was a Dutch politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 1866, and as Minister of Colonial Affairs from 1863 to 1866 and 1872 to 1874.
Schelto, Baron van Heemstra was a Dutch politician. He was Prime Minister from 1861 to 1862.
The Constitutional Reform of 1848 laid the basis for the present system of parliamentary democracy in the Netherlands. It is often described as the original version of the Dutch Constitution that is still in force today. Under pressure from the Revolutions of 1848 in surrounding countries, King William II agreed to several demands of the liberal parliamentary opposition. The House of Representatives obtained much more influence, and was now directly elected. The reform was in some sense a peaceful revolution, in which liberal politician Johan Rudolph Thorbecke and King William II played important roles.
The Cort van der Linden cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 29 August 1913 until 9 September 1918. The cabinet was formed by Independent Liberal Pieter Cort van der Linden after the election of 1913 and received confidence and supply in the House of Representatives from other Independent Liberals and several members of the Free-thinking Democratic League (VDB), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the Liberal Union (LU) and from 15 December 1917 also the Economic League (EL). The centre cabinet was officially a minority government in the House of Representatives but was also supported by additional members of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) for a majority. It was the last cabinet with a Liberal Prime Minister until Mark Rutte became Prime Minister 92 years later on 14 October 2010.
The Pierson cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 27 July 1897 until 1 August 1901. The cabinet was formed by the political party Liberal Union (CU) after the election of 1897. The left-liberal cabinet was a minority government in the House of Representatives but was supported by Independent Liberals for a majority. Nicolaas Pierson of the Liberal Union was Prime Minister.
The Röell cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 9 May 1894 until 27 July 1897. The cabinet was formed by Independent Liberals (I) after the election of 1894. The right-wing cabinet was a minority government in the House of Representatives but was supported by the Liberal Union (LU) and Independent Catholics (I) for a majority. Independent Conservative Liberal Joan Röell was Prime Minister.
The Van Tienhoven cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 21 August 1891 until 9 May 1894. The cabinet was formed by the Liberal Union (LU) and Independent Liberals (I) after the election of 1891. The right-wing cabinet was a majority government in the House of Representatives. Independent Classical Liberal Gijsbert van Tienhoven was Prime Minister.
The Jan Heemskerk cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 23 April 1883 until 21 April 1888. The cabinet was formed by Independent Conservatives, Independent Liberals and Independent Catholics after the election of 1883. The right-wing cabinet was a majority government in the House of Representatives. Independent Liberal Conservative Jan Heemskerk was Prime Minister.
The Heemskerk–Van Lynden van Sandenburg cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 27 August 1873 until 3 November 1877. The cabinet was formed by Independent Conservatives and Independent Liberals after the election of 1873. The right-wing cabinet was a majority government in the House of Representatives. Independent Liberal Conservative Jan Heemskerk was Prime Minister.
The De Vries–Fransen van de Putte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 6 July 1872 until 27 August 1873. The cabinet was formed by Independent Liberals after the death of Prime Minister Johan Rudolph Thorbecke on 4 June 1872. The Centre-right cabinet was a majority government in the House of Representatives. Independent Liberal Conservative Gerrit de Vries was Prime Minister.
The Van Bosse–Fock cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 4 June 1868 until 4 January 1871. The cabinet was formed by Independent Liberals. The Centre-right cabinet was a minority government in the House of Representatives. Independent Liberal Pieter Philip van Bosse was Prime Minister.
After the resignation of the moderately liberal De Kempenaer-Donker Curtius cabinet on 18 September 1849, a cabinet formation took place in the Netherlands. On 1 November 1849, this resulted in the liberal First Thorbecke cabinet.
Politicsportal 
