ABSTRACT
As had happened in 1854, the generals behind the coup of September 1868 were not as liberal as the governments that followed them. Neither had the idea been to bring about such a sweeping transformation in the political world as that which finally occurred, and which nobody could have foreseen. Indeed, under the existing conditions it would have been more logical if the uprising had been an act to avenge the damaged economic interests of the crisis, to change the reigning dynasty and to impel some political shift towards more democratic values. But Prim, a convinced protectionist, opted to give Figuerola, one of the most emblematic figures of liberal economics in Spain, a free hand in organizing a lasting economic project for the new government. So one way or the other the changes were going to be extensive.1
