aw of the land became identified with the program of a given individual (liberal or conservative), neither compromise nor political continuity was able to take hold. The result of ideological intransigence was a pattern of civil war and political anarchy or dictatorial rule.
The struggle began in 1830, the year Bolivar's unified Republic of Gran Colombia, which had for a time united Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador, collapsed and the Republic of Ecuador was founded as an independent nation.1 In the aftermath of revolutionary turmoil, the military became the source of many future political leaders, and its power remained formidable. But more powerful than the army was one institution that had been central to Ecuadorian life and politics since the days of the conquest the Roman Catholic Church. In 300 years of colonialism, the Church had influenced every corner of Ecuadorian society. It ran the educational system and provided such basic governmental services as registry of births and deaths, in addition to its larger spiritual mission. Secure in the doctrine that proclaimed Catholicism the one truth faith the very source of civilization the Church sought union with the state to guarantee its privileged position.
Unity of Church and state in colonial Ecuador was rooted in the concept of patronato or patronage. "Simply stated, patronage amounted to a trade off: in exchange for state support for its exclusive position, the Church permitted state intervention in its internal affairs."2 A major state prerogative under patronage was the exequatur, which permitted state censorship of internal Church communications. Patronato was as old as European explorations of the New World, for as early as the fifteenth century, Pope Alexander VI had conceded to the Catholic monarchs of Spain certain rights to control Church affairs in the New World. Colonial administrations could tax ecclesiastical rents, influence the appointment of bishops, and c...