The Liberal Party Organizes for a Future Elected Assembly
The imperial promise of an assembly in 1890 created a definite prospect of national elections without immediately opening a parliament. On October 29, 1881, the Liberal Party formally organized, electing Itagaki Taisuke as president and Nakajima Nobuyuki as vice-president.
Its founders adopted a three-article covenant and fifteen organizational rules. The covenant set out the expansion of liberty, protection of rights, improvement of society and promotion of well-being. An organization with elected officers and written rules could coordinate supporters beyond a single petition or an individual leader’s speech.
Local associations supplied the work of political participation. In Gunma, for example, Mitsumata Sohei and Takatsu Nakajirō organized the Meishikai late in 1881 and held public speaking meetings. The surviving copy of the Liberal Party covenant in the Mitsumata family papers shows how national party documents circulated through such regional networks.
The party existed before the Diet and could not yet legislate there. Its immediate activity was therefore organization, public argument and preparation for representative institutions. These arrangements made a national political affiliation available to local activists while leaving their future electoral position to legislation and elections still to come.
