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.
Portrait by Johan Heinrich Neuman [nl], 1852
Thorbecke's birthplace in Zwolle, nowadays known as the Thorbeckehuis
Statue of Thorbecke in The Hague
Liberalism in the Netherlands
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.
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke in 1852, during his first term as Prime Minister.