The most important political goal of the Liberals in the nineteenth century was the full realisation of the representative system in the sense of political accountability of the government to the Chamber of Deputies. The extension of the franchise played only a secondary role. The people were only supposed to appear sporadically as “historical actors” (Michelet 1940, 22); beyond elections, they had to leave the management of state affairs to their representatives. Many liberals, therefore, argued that political leadership should be entrusted only to those citizens who, by virtue of their knowledge and experience, were best able to recognise the “true interest of the country”.