While at university, he joined the young fraternal Estonian Students' Society, a group which played an important role in the national movement in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In 1896, Tõnisson, along with several of his closest associates, bought the newspaper Postimees turning it into the tribune of the national movement for the decades to follow.

Both tried to become leading national figures, Tõnisson was ideological and nationalist, Päts emphasized the importance of economic activity.

[4] While Tõnisson did not approve of Estonians participating in the Revolution of 1905, it did not prevent him from passionately protesting against the punishment actions in Estonia, organized by the imperial powers.

The platform was similar to the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets) of Russia, with minor differences in agricultural and nationality issues.

Eventually, Tõnisson and his moderate supporters left the gathering, while the remaining representatives turned the meeting into a discussion about how to take revolutionary power, much to the dismay of even Jaan Teemant.

[5] In 1906, the National Progress Party saw great support and Tõnisson was among the four Estonian politicians to be elected to the First State Duma in 1906, where he joined the Autonomist-Federalist group.

The co-operation and agriculture policies, that Tõnisson had established, developed quickly, creating an Estonian civil society and influencing the general growth of wealth in Estonia.

[7] Following the February Revolution, Estonians quickly reacted and gained the rights to autonomy and to form a national army from the Russian Provisional Government.

In March 1917, Tõnisson met with Prime Minister of Russia Georgy Lvov, who however could not promise autonomy and said that the Russian Provincial Assembly.

Konstantin Päts's idea of a single Autonomous Governorate of Estonia went through and Tõnisson, among some other Estonian politicians, was chosen to compose the draft of self-government reform.

[11] Eventually, the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia was created and Tõnisson was elected to the Estonian Provincial Assembly (Maapäev) in 1917.

At first, Tõnisson proposed the idea of a Scandinavian superstate, that eventually involved into supporting total secession from Russia.

In a speech in the parliament, Tõnisson emphasized the situation of anarchy in Russia and supported the declaration, that eventually turned into a successful coup d'etat.

[12] Subsequently, Tõnisson was arrested by Bolshevik forces on 4 December 1917 for organizing a pro-Provincial Assembly meeting in Tartu.

[17] Tõnisson's offices sent him abroad again, this time to Finland to seek weaponry and loans in the coming War of Independence.

[18] In December 1920, relations with Latvia deteriorated, when Estonia forced Latvian administration out of the border town of Valga (Valka).

Tõnisson himself however remained popular and despite the few seats in the Riigikogu, the Estonian People's Party was a coalition member in nine of the twelve cabinets between 1920 and 1932.

A prominent member of the People's Party, Jüri Jaakson, was even State Elder of the grand coalition cabinet after the Communist coup attempt from 1924 to 1925.

[24] Tõnisson returned to big politics on 12 February 1931, when he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Konstantin Päts's cabinet.

[23] Due to economical differences, the National Centre Party had left the governing coalition and Jaan Tõnisson formed his fourth cabinet on 18 May 1933.

[1] The semi-democratic elections of 1938, Tõnisson was re-elected to the State Assembly (Riigivolikogu), the lower chamber of the Riigikogu, where he continued fighting for the total restoration of democracy in Estonia.

[1] Tõnisson made an attempt to organise the nomination of rival candidates to the communist ones in the July 1940 sham elections of the new "Soviet" puppet parliament in Estonia.