Práxedes Mateo Sagasta

Práxedes Mariano Mateo Sagasta y Escolar (21 July 1825 – 5 January 1903) was a Spanish civil engineer and politician who served as Prime Minister on eight occasions between 1870 and 1902—always in charge of the Liberal Party—as part of the turno pacifico, alternating with the Liberal-Conservative leader Antonio Cánovas. A Freemason, he was known for possessing an excellent oratorical talent.

Sagasta was born on 21 July 1825 at Torrecilla en Cameros, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. As a member of the Progressive Party (Spain) while a student at the Civil Engineering School of Madrid in 1848, Sagasta was the only one in the school who refused to sign a letter supporting Queen Isabel II.

After his studies, he took an active role in government. Sagasta served in the Spanish Cortes between 1854–1857 and 1858–1863. In 1866 he went into exile in France after a failed coup. After the Spanish Revolution of 1868, he returned to Spain to take part in the newly created provisional government.

He served as Prime Minister of Spain during the Spanish–American War of 1898 (during which time Spain lost its remaining colonies.) Sagasta agreed to an autonomous constitution for both Cuba and Puerto Rico. Sagasta's political opponents saw his action as a betrayal of Spain; they blamed him for the country's defeat in the war and the loss of its island territories in the Treaty of Paris of 1898. He continued to be active in politics for another four years.

Sagasta died on 5 January 1903 in Madrid.^[1]

See also

• Spanish–American War
• Puerto Rico
• Cuba

References

External links

• U.S. Library of Congress Profile