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He was the first president of the Parliamentary Republic, although at the beginning he had rejected the candidacy because he thought his appointment might cast a negative image on the country overseas, as he had been the winning caudillo of the revolution. However, he finally accepted, winning the elections of 1891.

When he was in the government, Montt stood out for his prudence and good judgment. In addition, he always respected the resolutions of Congress, due to this he was known as the conciliatory leader.

The Fiscal Defense Council was created during his government, naval forces were incremented with ships purchased from English shipyards, loans were obtained overseas, foreign capital began to come in, the saltpeter reserves were auctioned off in order to get money and laws were promulgated regarding the Autonomous Comuna (County) and the Electoral System.

Nearly at the end of his term, he decreed the Metallic Conversion law, but it did not help in alleviating the fiscal deficit or the foreign debt that existed at the time.

In addition, Montt made the only reforms to the Constitution of 1883 of the entire parliamentarianism period.
Some of them were:

December 12th, 1891

– The Conservative Commission was authorized to call special sessions of Congress.
– The Senate had to agree with the appointment of ministers and diplomats.

July 9th, 1892

– The parliamentary incompatibility law was promulgated, which had been approved during Jose Manuel Balmaceda’s government.

July 26th, 1893

– The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate were allowed to approve projects that had previously been vetoed by the president of the Republic.


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