Alejandro Mon y Menéndez

Alejandro Mon y Menéndez (26 February 1801 in Oviedo, Principality of Asturias, Spain – 1 November 1882) was a Spanish politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of Spain in 1864, during the reign of Queen Isabella II.

Mon was born in Oviedo, being the eldest son of Miguel Mon y Miranda and Francisca Menéndez y de la Torre. His only sister, Manuela, was married to the Asturian Pedro José Pidal, 1st Marquis of Pidal, also a prominent politician who served several times as Prime Minister.

He studied Law in the University of Oviedo, where he became interested in politics and approached the Moderate Party.

In the regency of Queen Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (1833–1840), Mon was appointed for his first high political office, being Minister of Finance from 1837 to 1838, in a moderate cabinet headed by Narciso Fernández de Heredia, 2nd Count of Heredia-Spínola. During the regency of the progressivist Baldomero Espartero (1840–1843), he wasn't part of any of the cabinets, but kept active in political life.

When the moderates came back to power in 1844, starting a period known as the Moderate Decade, Mon was called by the new Prime Minister Ramón María Narváez, 1st Duke of Valencia, again as Minister of Finance. He held this post from 1844 to 1845, and carried out the Tax reform of 1845, which established the basis of the current tax system of Spain. This reform was executed in collaboration with Ramón de Santillán, and it is popularly known as the Mon-Santillán reform.

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