Mejía was a highly intellectual, disciplined representative for post-Independence Ecuador. As the child of an illegitimate union between a married man and his mother, he was persecuted by government and university officials, who refused to offer him degrees until he could cleanse his birth. Having protested, he went into exile in Guayaquil, Lima, and later Spain. He fought in Madrid against the French invasion by Napoleon, and fled to Seville. Following a series of confrontations with political leaders, Mejía settled in Cadiz, where he became a parliamentary representative until his death of yellow fever at age 38.

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Updated: 9 April 2008