 A period of neo-absolutism was followed by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement, which granted limited independence to Croatia.This was compounded by Croatian claims of uninterrupted statehood since the early Middle Ages as a basis for a modern state.Two political parties that evolved in the 1860s and contributed significantly to the sentiment were the Party of Rights, led by Starčević and Kvaternik, and the People's Party, led by Janko Drašković, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, Josip Juraj Strossmayer and Ivan Mažuranić.