In the 1877–1878 sessions of the Diet of Finland the party attained a leading role among the clergy and the peasantry, which it would hold till 1904.
The Finnish Party sought legitimacy in the eyes of the Russian authorities and saw cooperation with Russia as a way to enact its language policies.
Although the party maintained that Finland's rights were being violated, it emphasized the importance of keeping official positions in Finnish hands and feared that resistance could lead to further loss of autonomy.
Aside from the central language question, the party espoused conservative values and supported many social reforms, especially during Danielson-Kalmari's time as its ideological leader after Yrjö-Koskinen's death in 1903.
Although it had agreed to establishing a republican form of government before the war, the party leadership now switched to supporting constitutional monarchy.