The Freedom and People's Rights Movement refers to political efforts to guarantee the freedom and rights of the people of the country in the midst of the changes in the political system of the Meiji Restoration after the Taisei Hokan.
This movement was a movement that criticized the fact that people from a specific clan such as the Satsuma domain and the Choshu domain were doing politics at that time, and politics should be open to the people, and the people's choice It was based on the claim that politics should be entrusted to lawmakers.
Background of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The background of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement was that the government's key positions were monopolized only by those from the former Sat-Chō-Doh, who was a major contributor to the defeat, so those who considered it unfair are suitable for a modern nation on par with Europe. It was advocated based on the idea that a constitution should be prepared, a parliament should be formed, and politics should be carried out in the same way as in Europe.
To that end, let's make the selection more fair and select members by election.
Itagaki Taisuke was the central figure in this movement. So he submitted a white paper on the establishment of a civilian elected member. In the white paper, he demanded the opening of a parliament.
Around that time, I visited the facilities of the Hokkaidō Development Commission in Hokkaido, and at that time, the Secretary of the Hokkaidō Development Commission Kiyotaka Kuroda Was trying to sell the country's stuff to the private sector at an unreasonable price that was easy to need. With such an unreasonable price, it would be strange to give everyone's goods at a price that is almost free at the discretion of some people, and the government will open a parliament 10 years later. I promised.
The government promised to open a parliament as stated in Itagaki Taisuke's white paper as a compromise because it was irresistible to be criticized anymore.
The beginning of party politics
In that case, we need a political party to carry out politics. In this regard, Taisuke Itagaki created a political party called the Liberal Party, which was modeled after France.
In addition, Shigenobu Okuma and his colleagues created the Constitutional Reform Party with Britain as a model. The Liberal Party created by Itagaki Taisuke was modeled after France, France, where Louis XVI had already disappeared. On the other hand, Shigenobu Okuma The Rikken Kaishintō was modeled on England, where the King was.
Itagaki Taisuke's movement is also significant in that it tried to move the government with the power of the word speech. This allowed samurai to not only use swords to disagree, but also to fight the government in speech.
Itagaki Taisuke's political party had a radical characteristic compared to Okuma Shigenobu's party, but it was once dismissed under the crackdown of the government, and Okuma Shigenobu and his colleagues joined the cabinet, and the Freedom and People's Rights Movement gradually subsided. It became a flow.
In other words, in the course of history, Japan adopted the state of Britain, which was the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. And the beginning is Itagaki Taisuke's White Paper on the Establishment of the Minsen Senate It means that it was.
Many signatures were gathered on the petition for the opening of the Diet, which began with the call of Itagaki Taisuke and others, and it played a major role as the voice of the petition for the establishment of the Diet.
The Freedom and People's Rights Movement was opposed to the politics of the time. People in each position called for a change in the country. And itagaki Taisuke wanted a streamlined Western-style system and a free nation.
Summary
In this way, the Freedom and People's Rights Movement represents a political effort to guarantee the freedom and rights of the people in the change of the political system from the samurai government to the Meiji Restoration.
And, in the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, how the nation will change went in a different direction from what Itagaki Taisuke originally envisioned, but the political system centered on the Emperor The Freedom and People's Rights Movement was in the process of being developed, and it was an indispensable movement for Japan to move forward as a modern nation.