The Freedom and People's Rights Movement (自由民権運動, Jiyū Minken Undō^?) was a Meiji period Japanese political and social movement that in the 1870s and 1880s pursued the formation of an elected legislature, the institution of civil rights and the reduction of centralized taxation. The Movement prompted the Meiji government to establish a constitution in 1889 and a diet in 1890; on the other hand, it failed to loosen the control of the central government and its demand for true democracy remained unfulfilled, with ultimate power continuing to reside in the Chōshū-Satsuma oligarchy because, among other limitations, the Meiji Constitution enfranchised only men who paid a substantial amount in property taxes. The Meiji period ) denotes the 45-year reign of Emperor Meiji, running from 8 September 1868 (in the Gregorian calendar, 23 October 1868) to 30 July 1912. ... A legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Meiji oligarchy, as the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan is known to historians, was a privileged clique that exercised imperial power, sometimes despotically. ...