Alejandro Mon y Menendez
Alejandro Mon y Menéndez (Oviedo, February 26, 1801 - Ibid. November 1, 1882) was a Spanish politician and jurist, Minister of Finance on several occasions (1837-1838, 1844 -1846, 1846-1847, 1848-1849 and 1857-1858) and President of the Council of Ministers of Spain in 1864.
He is famous for the tax reform he undertook in 1845 to rationalize and modernize the Spanish Treasury.
Biography
He was one of the three children of Miguel Mon y Miranda and Francisca Menéndez de la Torre. He was married to Rosa Martínez, by whom he had his only son Alejandro Mon y Martínez.
Minister of Finance
He studied Law at the University of Oviedo. Concerned about political activity, he was vice president of the Cortes Generales and during the Regency of María Cristina he was appointed Minister of Finance in 1837 to 1838 and again with Narváez in 1844 to 1846 during which he faced the serious economic crisis of the public treasury as consequence of the First Carlist War. For a brief period of time he leaves the Ministry, until he is reappointed by Francisco Javier de Istúriz until 1847 during the Moderate Decade of the reign of Isabel II when he is named President of the Congress of Deputies. In 1849 and 1857 he again became Minister of Finance for short periods. In 1859, he signed the Treaty of Mon-Almonte with the then Mexican emissary in Spain Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, during the beginning of the Reform War.
His time at the Ministry of Finance is remembered as the most important of the 19th Spanish century. The simplification and modernization that he carried out in the tax system, called Mon-Santillán Reform (by Ramón de Santillán), placed Spain among the countries around it in that matter and in his shadow. has lasted until today. He is also remembered for promoting the modernization of the Spanish economy, betting on the railway and processing industries.
President
Later he would be the ambassador of Spain in Rome and Paris and would refuse offers to return to active politics until March 1, 1864, when he was named President of the Council of Ministers, replacing Lorenzo Arrazola during the period of crisis of the Liberal Union. and that it will only last nine months, although to its credit will be found having incorporated one of the most influential figures in Spanish political life after the Bourbon restoration, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, into the cabinet for the first time.
After the revolution of 1868 he separated from political life definitively although he was appointed senator for life in 1876.
Intellectual life
Alejandro Mon was one of the most respected Spanish politicians of his time, being a founding member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.
| Predecessor: Lorenzo Arrazola | President of the Council of Ministers of Spain 1 March 1864 - 16 September 1864 | Successor: Ramón María Narváez |
| Predecessor: Francisco de Paula Orlando | Minister of Finance 1848-1849 | Successor: Juan Bravo Murillo |