View source for Nicolás Salmerón y Alonso

{{Short description|Spanish politician (1838–1908)}}
{{expand Spanish|topic=bio|otherarticle=Nicolás Salmerón|date=February 2014}}
{{no footnotes|date=February 2014}}
{{family name hatnote|Salmerón|Alonso|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Nicolás Salmerón
| image = F. de Madrazo - 1879, Nicolás Salmerón (Congreso de los Diputados, Madrid, 131 x 96 cm).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Portrait by [[Federico de Madrazo]]
| office = [[President of the Republic (Spain)|President of the Executive Power]]
| term_start = 18 July 1873
| term_end = 7 September 1873
| predecessor = [[Francisco Pi y Margall]]
| successor = [[Emilio Castelar y Ripoll]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1838|4|10|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Alhama de Almería]], [[Province of Almería]], [[Spain]]
| residence =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1908|9|21|1838|4|10|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]], [[France]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (Spain)|Democratic]] <br> [[Republican Union Party (Spain)|Republican Union Party]] <br> [[Progressive Party (Spain)|Progressive Party]]
| religion =
| spouse =
| children =
| website =
| footnotes =
| honorific_prefix =
|signature=Firma de Nicolás Salmerón.svg}}
'''Nicolás Salmerón Alonso''' (10 April 1838 &ndash; 21 September 1908) was a Spanish politician, president of the [[First Spanish Republic]].
==Biography==
He was born at [[Alhama de Almería|Alhama la Seca]] in the [[province of Almería]], was educated at [[Granada]] and became assistant professor of literature and philosophy at Madrid. The last years of the reign of [[Isabella II of Spain|Isabella II]] were times of growing discontent with her government and with the monarchy. Salmerón joined a small party who advocated for the establishment of a republic. He was director of the opposition paper ''La Discusión'', and co-operated with [[Emilio Castelar y Ripoll|Emilio Castelar]] on ''La Democracia''. In 1865 he was named one of the members of the directing committee of the Republican Party. In 1867 he was imprisoned with other suspects.
When the [[revolution of September 1868]] broke out, he was at Almería recovering from a serious illness. Salmerón was elected to the ''[[Cortes Generales|Cortes]]'' in 1871, and though he did not belong to the Socialist Party, defended its right to toleration. When [[Amadeo I of Spain|Amadeo of Savoy]] resigned the Spanish crown on 11 February 1873 Salmerón was naturally marked out to be a leader of the party which endeavoured to establish a republic in Spain. While serving as minister of justice in the [[Estanislao Figueras y Moragas|Figueras]] cabinet, he abolished the death penalty. He was subsequently elected president of the ''Cortes'', and then, on 18 July 1873, president of the Executive Power of the Republic, in succession to [[Francisco Pi y Margall]]. He became president at a time when the Federalist Party had thrown all the south of Spain into [[Cantonal rebellion|anarchy]].
Salmerón was compelled to use the troops to restore order. When, however, he found that the generals insisted on executing rebels taken in arms, he resigned (September 6) on the ground that he was opposed to capital punishment. He was again elected president of the Cortes on September 9. His successor, Castelar, was compelled to restore order by drastic means. Salmerón took part in the attack made on him in the ''Cortes'' on 3 January 1874, which provoked the generals into closing the chamber and establishing a provisional military government. Salmerón went into exile and remained abroad till 1881, when he was recalled by [[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta|Sagasta]].
In 1886, he was elected to the ''Cortes'' as Progressive deputy for [[Madrid]], and unsuccessfully endeavoured to combine the jarring republican factions into a party of practical moderate views. In 1889, he was the attorney for the defense in the trial for the [[crime of Fuencarral street]] in Madrid. On 18 April 1907 he was shot at, but not wounded, in the streets of [[Barcelona]] by a member of the more extreme Republican Party. He died at [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]] on 21 September 1908 at the age of 70.
He was the last living president of the [[First Spanish Republic]].
==Human rights prize in his name==
Since 2009 the Nicolás Salmerón Human Rights Prize has been awarded, arising from the initiative of the [[Ateneo de Madrid]]. The award is organized by the International Foundation for Human Rights and delivered at the Ateneo headquarters every December 10th on the anniversary of the approval by the United Nations of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]. Among the winners in the different categories are [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva]] (2020), [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] (2009), la Casa Sefarad-Israel (2010), [[Cristina Fernández de Kirchner]] (2011), El Intermedio y El Gran Wyoming (2012), Jesús Caldera (2012), Jordi Évole (2013), Pedro González Zerolo y Marcos Ana (2014)
[[File:Panteón de salmerón.jpg|thumb|Pantheon of Nicolás Salmerón]]
[[File:Nicolás_Salmerón_1908_(cropped).jpg|thumb|Nicolás Salmerón in 1908.]]
==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle = Salmeron y Alfonso, Nicolas|volume=24}}
{{S-start}}
{{s-off|}}
|-
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Francisco Pi y Margall|Francisco Pi]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of heads of state of Spain#First Spanish Republic (1873–1874)|President of the Executive Power of Spain]]|years=18 July 1873{{spaced ndash}}7 September 1873}}
{{S-aft|rows=2|after=[[Emilio Castelar y Ripoll|Emilio Castelar]]}}
|-
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Prime Ministers of Spain#First Spanish Republic (1873–1874)|President of the Provisional Government of Spain]]|years=18 July 1873{{spaced ndash}}7 September 1873}}
{{s-end}}
{{commons category|Nicolás Salmerón}}
{{SpanishPresidents1873}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmeron y Alonso, Nicolas}}
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Almería]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (Spain) politicians]]
[[Category:Republican Union Party (Spain) politicians]]
[[Category:Justice ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Congress of Deputies (Spain)]]
[[Category:Members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain)]]
[[Category:Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Spanish Restoration]]
[[Category:Politicians from Andalusia]]
[[Category:Complutense University of Madrid alumni]]
[[Category:University of Granada alumni]]
[[Category:Government ministers during the First Spanish Republic]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Executive Power of the First Spanish Republic]]
[[Category:Spanish political party founders]]