Samuel van Houten

[1] His parents were Derk van Houten, a timber merchant and local politician, and his wife Barbara Elizabeth Meihuizen.

He denounced what he saw as a centralist tendency in the ideology of their leader, Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, jokingly referring to the latter's views as Bonapartism in 1872.

Van Houten, in contrast, adhered to the belief that the historical development of different sectors of society should be respected, in this sense sharing semblance to Abraham Kuyper's theory of sphere sovereignty.

[1] Nonetheless, van Houten who started out as very progressive gradually became more conservative and opposed further social laws and any egalitarianism by the state.

While initially supportive of expansion of suffrage, Van Houten gradually became more conservative on the issue over time, fearing that an enfranchised proletariat would threaten the social balance.

His opposition to Johannes Tak van Poortvliet's proposal to extend suffrage to all men except beggars and servants led him to lose re-election in the progressive district of Groningen in the general election of 1894.

[1] While Van Houten lost his seat in 1894, the anti-Takkians won the general election, after which Joan Röell was asked to form a government.

[1][2] Critical of the new electoral system and the expansion of government, the 85-year old Van Houten founded the short-lived Liberal Party in 1922 and became its lijsttrekker in the general election in that year.