The declining economy of the Dutch Republic obliged city governments in the eighteenth century to take measures to undo the effects of the social deterioration. They therefore founded schools for the poor and sometimes gave full financial support. After 1795, the Batavian Revolution proclaimed that primary education was a state affair, but after a contest for hegemony between political elites, funding of schools in particular was left to provinces and communities. The desolate finances of the Batavian Republic made it nearly impossible for the national government to intervene with financial resources. After 1813 the situation did not change much; under King William I the decentralised funding model remained despite his absolutist activity. The constitution from 1848 offered freedom but after the new law of 1857 confessional politicians promoted private education because they found the neutral character of public education unacceptable for their children. Liberals aggravated the demands for primary education and were responsible for the fact that communities received state support to fulfil the demands in the law of 1878. But liberal hegemony broke down and confessional politicians succeeded in gaining state support for private schools in 1889 in exchange for their cooperation with the extension of suffrage. This process was repeated after 1913 when liberals negotiated with Christian politicians concerning general suffrage and equal funding of the private schools. The Dutch state dominated through that result in 1920 primary education but did not gain a monopoly.