Europe is swept by revolution. Fearing that unrest will spread to the Netherlands, William II agrees to sweeping constitutional reform. Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, a professor at the University of Leiden, drafts a liberal constitution introducing the doctrine of ministerial accountability (i.e. that the king bears no responsibility for acts of government). Political primacy is to lie with the Lower House of parliament, which is to be directly elected by all who pay more than a certain amount of tax. The system of government devised by Thorbecke has largely survived to the present day.
