The political movement that took place in Japan in the early Meiji period was aimed at opposing autocracy and fighting for the democratic and free rights of the bourgeoisie. Its content includes requirements for the establishment of a parliament, the formulation of a constitution, the reduction of local taxes, the establishment of local autonomy and the modification of unequal treaties imposed by Western powers. In January 1874, former government senator Itagaki Taisuke, Eto Shinpei, Goto Shojiro and others formed Japan's earliest political party, the Patriotic Public Party, which opened the prelude to the freedom and civil rights movement. In April of the same year, Itagaki, Kataoka Kenkichi and others founded Rizhisha in Kochi. Since then, civil rights organizations have been established in Kyushu, Shikoku and other places. In February 1875, the above-mentioned liberal and civil rights organizations established a nationwide association, the Patriotic Society, in Osaka with the Ritshisha as the center. But the early civil rights movement showed the limitations of gentry civil rights. In June 1877, representatives of the Ritshisha Society submitted a proposal to the emperor, systematically proposing three major requirements: establishing a parliament, reducing local taxes, and revising unequal treaties. Taking this as a turning point, the freedom and civil rights movement gradually developed into a national-scale political movement. In March 1880, the Patriotic Society changed its name to the Congress Alliance and submitted a "Petition for the Establishment of Congress" to the government. This year, more than 246,000 people signed petitions across the country calling for the establishment of a parliament, and 70 petitions and proposals were submitted.

Faced with the massive freedom and civil rights movement, the Meiji government was very panicked and used both suppression and bribery methods to divide and disintegrate the freedom and civil rights movement. Soon the movement split.

In 1881, Masayoshi Matsukata (1835-1924) took office as Minister of Finance and implemented a deflationary policy, pushing farmers into the abyss of poverty and leading to repeated peasant riots. After the Fukushima incident in 1882, lower-level members of the Liberal Party gradually integrated with farmers to resist authoritarian rule with force. Successive uprisings were launched, but all were suppressed. In October 1884, the Liberal Party announced its dissolution on the grounds that it had lost control of the movement. Soon, the leader of the Constitutional Reform Party also announced his resignation from the party. The liberal civil rights movement declined. The so-called three major events proposal movement that took place in October 1887 demanding freedom of speech and assembly, reduction of local taxes, and revision of unequal treaties, and the so-called Datong Solidarity Movement initiated by Goto Shojiro before and after, all failed due to suppression by the Meiji government. The freedom and civil rights movement that lasted for more than 10 years completely collapsed.