 |
Nicolás María del Carmen Salmerón y Alonso
b. 10 Apr 1837, Alhama la Seca, Almería, Spain
d. 20 Sep 1908, "Villa Les Elfes" at Billère, near Pau, Basses-Pyrénées, France |
| Title: |
Presidente del Poder Ejecutivo de la República (President of the Executive Power of the Republic) |
| Term: |
18 Jul 1873 - 7 Sep 1873 |
| Chronology: |
18 Jul 1873, elected, session of the Cortes Constituyentes (Constituent Cortes), Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid [1] |
|
6 Sep 1873, resignation submitted to the Constituent Cortes, accepted, session of the Constituent Cortes, salón de sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados, Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid; continues in office until the election of a successor [2] |
|
7 Sep 1873, ceased to exercise the duties of office upon the election of a successor [3] |
| Other offices: |
Presidente del Gobierno de la República (this style is used when counter-signing a minister's decree) [18 Jul 1873 - 7 Sep 1873] |
| Biography: |
| Received secondary education at the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de Almería; entered the University of Granada, where studied law and philosophy; transferred to Madrid (1856), where he finished his education; a brilliant scholar, he entered the Ateneo de Madrid, a center for cultural and intellectual debate and became known as eloquent orator and philosopher, defending the principles of democratic socialist society; worked as professor at the Instituto San Isidro (until 1858); in the 1860s was involved in managing newspapers; edited La Discusión and La Democracia; quit editorial job to assume the position of assistant professor at the University of Madrid; moved to Oviedo (1864), where he held the chair of history in local university; returned to Madrid where he taught as professor in the Central University (1866); was clandestinely named a member of El Saladero, a democratic committee (1867); arrested for his political views and spent five months in jail (1867); upon his release, he was forced by health problems to return to his home town, but rushed to the capital when the news of the Revolution of 1868 reached Almería; served as a member of the Junta Superior Revolucionaria de Madrid (8 Oct 1868 - 19 Oct 1868); refused to support the plans of provisional government to set up constitutional monarchy in Spain; was defeated at the election to the Cortes Constituyentes (Constituent Cortes, 1869); returned as a deputy at the election to the Cortes, representing Badajoz (1871-1872, 1872-1873) and Cartagena (1872); appointed minister of justice (12 Feb 1873 - 11 Jun 1873) in the first republican government of Estanislao Figueras; elected to the Constituent Cortes (1873-1874) as a deputy for Badajoz; upheld the ideas of federal republic and citizens' equality; upon resigning his ministerial position, he was elected President of the Constituent Cortes (13 Jun 1873 - 25 Aug 1873) [4]; elected President of the Executive Power (18 Jul 1873 - 7 Sep 1873); resigned the presidency over a controversy resulting from his refusal to sign death sentences; was again elected President of the Constituent Cortes (9 Sep 1873 - 8 Jan 1874) [5]; with the restoration of the Borbon monarchy, he was dismissed as professor (1875) and moved to France; acted as a leader of the republican movement in exile, working for creation of a progressive republican party; briefly returned to Madrid after the amnesty had been proclaimed in 1881, but did not reside permanently in Spain until 1884; elected to the Cortes (1886-1887) as a deputy for Madrid; gave up his seat in the Cortes due to disagreements with his republican colleagues (19 Feb 1887); emerged as a founder of the Partido Republicano Centralista (Centralist Republican Party) in 1890; elected to the Cortes to fill in a vacancy (1892-1893) in Barcelona electoral district; reelected on a number of occasions as deputy for Barcelona to the Cortes (1893-1895, 1898-1899, 1903-1905, 1907-1908). |
| Biographical sources: Enciclopedia de Historia de España. Vol. IV. Diccionario biográfico. (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1991). P. 763. |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Vote (18 Jul 1873) |
| Nicolás Salmerón y Alonso |
119 |
| Francisco Pi y Margall |
93 |
| José María Orense Milá de Aragón, marqués de Albayda |
2 |
| Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol (Narciso Monturiol y Estarriol) |
1 |
| Emilio Manuel Castelar Ripoll |
1 |
| blank/invalid |
2 |
| total votes cast |
218 |
|
| Source of electoral results: Gaceta de Madrid, sábado 19 de Julio de 1873. Núm. 200. P. 1108; Gaceta de Madrid, domingo 20 de Julio de 1873. Núm. 201. P. 1117. |
| |
| [1] |
Gaceta de Madrid, sábado 19 de Julio de 1873. Núm. 200. P. 1108. |
| [2] |
Gaceta de Madrid, domingo 7 de Setiembre de 1873. Núm. 250. PP. 1633, 1635. |
| [3] |
Gaceta de Madrid, domingo 7 de Setiembre de 1873. Núm. 250. PP. 1643-1644. |
| [4] |
The last session actually presided by Salmerón was on 17 Jul 1873. |
| [5] |
Chaired the sessions of the Cortes through 20 Sep 1873 when it was suspended; opened again on 2 Jan 1874 with Salmerón in chair, dispersed at the daybreak of 3 Jan 1874 on orders of general Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque; the Cortes was formally dissolved by decree of Francisco Serrano on 8 Jan 1874. |
| |
Image: portrait by Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz, 1879. |
