ABSTRACT
Opportunities for free activity under the new regime, the wholesale denunciation of the old ideas, and the attractions of the imported civilization, naturally gave a strong impetus to the exaltation of individual welfare and of immediate usefulness, in contrast to the old culture of serenity and refinement. The most important of the measures adopted by the Government for progress was the inauguration of a system of universal education. Several foreign advisers were engaged to organize a system, foremost among whom was David Murray, an American, while the Japanese officials in the work represented the French system. Some of these liberals later fought for political liberty, while most of the Meiji Six worked as peaceful educators or writers. The decade of the seventies was a period of emancipation marked by the free play of liberal ideas. The feudal system was largely dissolved, and several armed risings of the discontented Samurai succumbed before the force of the growing unity of the nation.
