“Sois libres, sois iguales, sois hermanos” Sociedades democráticas en Quito de mediados del siglo XIX

– This research project addresses the political participation of artists and artisans in Quito in the mid–1800’s, during what’s known as the “March” national governments, especially under the rule of José María Urvina (1851–1856) and Francisco Robles (1856–1859). The first section examines the role of the so called Sociedades Democráticas as places of sociability and political learning, where literate lettered artists and artisans gathered with the members of the political and publishing elites. There, they applied the concepts, keywords, values and practices from liberalism. The second section studies the 1845 Revolution commemoration speeches, written by members of the Sociedades Democráticas, which reflected their requirements for building an egalitarian, democratic and Catholic political community. Finally, the third section examines the newspaper El Artesano (1857–1859), published by former members of the Sociedades Democráticas, to analyze their efforts to participate in the public debates of Quito. The purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which the liberal official discourse was appropriated and transformed by the members of the Sociedades Democráticas according to their own political expectations and identities, and how these meaning constructs shaped a local version of Catholic liberalism. * Agradezco los valiosos comentarios de Juan Maiguashca y Pablo Ospina; así como la colaboración de Tatiana Salazar y Ligia Caicedo para la obtención de las fuentes documentales requeridas para este ensayo. Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el fondo para investigaciones del Comité de Investigaciones de la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (UASB, Quito) y forma parte de un proyecto más amplio de la autora, en el que se estudian las tempranas experiencias liberales en Ecuador de la primera mitad del siglo XIX, desde una perspectiva transnacional y de historia cruzadas. 186 Galaxis Borja González