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Introduction xi Well beyond a century and a quarter following his death, Gabriel Garc ía Moreno remains “the most argued about personality in the history of Ecuador.”1 His importance as Ecuador’s leading political figure from 1859 to 1875, however, extended far beyond the borders of this small (about the size of Colorado) Andean nation, as his actions and ideas resonated throughout Latin America and Europe. Not surprisingly, then, writers in multiple languages have penned more than thirty full-length biographies of the man, although none in English since 1914. Not only Ecuadorian intellectuals but also average citizens still hold strong opinions about García Moreno, as a personal anecdote will illustrate . I was sitting at a rooftop café in the town of Otavalo, awaiting the beginning of the San Juan Festival (also called Inti raimi), which thanks the deities for a good harvest while parading under the guise of a Catholic celebration. Some Ecuadorian acquaintances asked me why I was spending so much time in their country, and I mentioned my interest in writing a book about García Moreno. Almost immediately a good-natured domestic tiff ensued between a fellow who liked García Moreno because he wielded a strong hand and brought progress to the country, and his girlfriend who despised García Moreno for suppressing liberty and being so pro-Catholic. So right there we see part of the paradox that is García Moreno. With this book, I aspire to tell much more than the tale of the life of an important historical personage or the history of Ecuador in the midnineteenth century. The book operates at the intersection of two other topics of scholarly interest: state formation and the “new political history.” State formation, the process of creating a modern nation, saw some of its first experimental efforts in the Western Hemisphere during the postindependence era. As “imagined political communities,” the new South American nations had difficulty seeking their identities in distinctive cultural Introduction Chapter One xii introduction roots—unlike England, for example, where national precepts had developed over centuries.2 For many Andean nations, particularly Ecuador, cultural uniqueness proved a puzzling concept, for they shared with neighbors a common language (at least among the elite and middle classes), common historical experiences, and ill-defined boundaries. During the first few decades after independence, the new states waffled among regimes that sought to recreate Spanish colonial institutions, those that attempted state formation based on liberal ideals modified to fit local circumstances, or (worse yet) governments founded on the whims of self-identified military heroes. García Moreno offered a thoughtful conservative alternative containing both ideological and pragmatic elements. Understanding the culture of highland Ecuador (as did Simón Bolívar, the great liberator), García Moreno argued that the common heritage of the Catholic faith could unite a nation divided by geography and ethnicity. Catholic education and a moral crusade would, he believed, bind Ecuador together culturally. At the same time, he undertook the development of transportation and communication networks that would literally tie the country together and modernize it. So successful was the Garcian experiment that conservatives throughout Europe in the late nineteenth century held up his state as a shining beacon for other would-be Catholic rulers. García Moreno’s state also succeeded, albeit temporarily, because his extensive powers of patronage—especially after 1869—allowed him to impose greater unity on Ecuador than had existed previously. Although the genre of biography tends to attribute earthshaking events to a single heroic individual, the “new political history” has emphasized the importance of networks of supporters and the use of patronage as key factors contributing to the durability of regimes.3 Like many Latin American political leaders , García Moreno drew upon resources provided by friends and family. To a degree never before realized, his brothers helped him immeasurably in one geographical region, the coast, where his ideas met with much skepticism . Successive marriages into two interrelated and powerful families from the northern and central highlands enabled him to engender the support of many landlords from that region. While attending the university and later serving in the Senate, García Moreno acquired a network of friends throughout the highlands, including the south, who would serve in many roles during his administration—from cabinet officers to church employees to governors. As a result, in 1869 when García Moreno wrote a new constitution, he used the document...

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