The Free-minded People's Party (Freisinnige Volkspartei) was a left liberal

Social liberalism

Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...

 party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, founded as a result of the split of the German Free-minded Party in 1893. One of its most notable members was Eugen Richter

Eugen Richter

Eugen Richter was a German politician and journalist.-Career:Born as the son of a combat medic, Richter attended the Gymnasium in his home town of Düsseldorf. Since 1856, he studied Law and Economics at the Universities of Bonn, Berlin and Heidelberg, that he finished with a law degree in 1859...

, who was party leader from 1893 to 1906. The party advocated classical liberalism

Classical liberalism

Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....

, social progressivism and parliamentarism.

On 6 March 1910 it merged with the Free-minded Union

Free-minded Union

The Free-minded Union was a liberal party in the German Empire that existed from 1893 to 1910.-Emergence:Inside its predecessor, the German Free-minded Party there have always been tensions between the leftist and the moderate wing. Another contentious point was the personalist style of leader...

, and German People's Party

German People's Party (1868)

The German People's Party was a German liberal party created in 1868 by the wing of the German Progress Party which during the conflict about whether the Unification of Germany should be led by the Kingdom of Prussia or Austria-Hungary supported Austria.The party was most popular in Southern Germany...

 to form the Progressive People's Party

Progressive People's Party (Germany)

The Progressive People's Party was a liberal party of late Imperial Germany. It was formed in 6 March, 1910 as a merger of Freeminded People's Party, Freeminded Union, and German People's Party in order to unify the various liberal groups represented in parliament...

.

See also

• Liberalism
  Liberalism
  Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
  
  
• Contributions to liberal theory
  Contributions to liberal theory
  Individual contributors to classical liberalism and political liberalism are associated with philosophers of the Enlightenment. Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government and away from aristocracy...
  
  
• Liberalism worldwide
  Liberalism worldwide
  This article gives information on liberalism in diverse countries around the world. It is an overview of parties that adhere more or less to the ideas of political liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world....
  
  
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
  Liberal democracy
  Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
  
  
• Liberalism in Germany
  Liberalism in Germany
  This article aims to give an historical overview of liberalism in Germany. The liberal parties dealt with in the timeline below are, largely, those which received sufficient support at one time or another to have been represented in parliament. Not all parties so included, however, necessarily...