Manuel Francisco Antonio Julián Montt Torres (; September 4, 1809 – September 21, 1880) was a Chilean statesman and scholar who was twice elected President of Chile between 1851 and 1861. He was the first civilian to serve a full term as President of Chile.

His election as President in 1851 set off Revolution of 1851, which Montt successfully subdued.

Presidency

In 1851 Montt won the Chilean presidency, but the liberals regarded his election as fraudulent and instigated an armed revolt, the Revolution of 1851, which was quickly subdued. Montt represented the conservative oligarchy and was authoritarian and inflexible in his beliefs, but he also worked for the economic and social progress of his nation. He angered the conservatives when he asserted the state's right of patronage in Chile's Roman Catholic Church and when he supported the abolition of restrictions on the sale or bequeathing of landed estates. His administration made advances in commerce and banking, codified Chilean laws, strongly promoted public education and immigration, and colonized the area south of the Bío-Bío River.

Manuel Montt, as Chile's first civilian president, furthered the reforms begun by Diego Portales. With Vicente Perez Rosales, the Minister of Immigration, he encouraged the settlement of German immigrants in the south of the country. The city of Puerto Montt, at the centre of the newly settled lands, honours his name. He governed Chile with an energy and wisdom that laid the foundation of her material prosperity. He was ably assisted by his minister of the interior Antonio Varas, and from the co-operation of the two statesmen the well-known ultra-conservative faction, the Montt-Varistas, took their name. His presidency featured the establishment of railways, telegraphs, banks, schools and training-colleges. Near the end of his second term, when Montt indicated a preference for Varas, his minister of the interior, to become his successor, liberals again staged an armed uprising (1859). Montt again subdued the revolt, but pacified the liberals by shifting his support to José Joaquín Pérez, who was a moderate.

Later life

On giving up the presidency in 1861, Montt became President of the Supreme Court of Chile, a position which he held up to his death in September 1880. Manuel Montt's nephew Jorge (born 1846) served as president of Chile in 1891–1896, as did Manuel Montt's son, Pedro (died 1910), between 1906 and 1910.

Manuel Montt died in Santiago de Chile on September 21, 1880, aged 71. He gives his name to the town of Puerto Montt.

See also

  • Montt family
  • Manuel Montt metro station, on the Santiago Metro

References

Sources

  • P. B. Figueroa, Diccionario biografico de Chile, 1550–1887 (Santiago, 1888)
  • J. B. Suarez, Rasgos biograficos de hombres notables de Chile (Valparaiso, 1886)
  • Short biography
  • Genealogical chart of Montt family