The same year, Manuel's mother secured his entrance into the Instituto Nacional (National Institute, where he would later serve as rector from 1835 to 1840), though he could only afford the fees by tutoring other students.

In 1849, botanist Claude Gay named Monttea, a genus of flowering plants from Argentina and Chile, belonging to the family Plantaginaceae in Manuel Montt's honour.

[1] In 1851 Montt won the Chilean presidency, but the liberals regarded his election as fraudulent and instigated an armed revolt, the Revolution of 1851, which was quickly subdued.

He angered the conservatives when he asserted the state's right of patronage in Chile's Roman Catholic Church and when he supported the abolition of restrictions on the sale or bequeathing of landed estates.

His administration made advances in commerce and banking, codified Chilean laws, strongly promoted public education and immigration, and colonized the area south of the Bío-Bío River.