América – Americanos

Abstract

This article examines the history of the concept of America in Brazil between 1750 and 1850. The concept assumed several key meanings during the period, among them, one geographic that equals America, or the American continent, to the New World, one political that referred to the possessions of European metropolises, America as the source of endless riches and a future promise of prosperity, as the place of freedom, of new political and social forms, associated with concepts such as republic, federalism and democracy. The experience with republican government in Spanish America, characterized as politically unstable and violent, and also associated with republicanism and democracy, was often used negatively by those who defended the monarchical solution during the political crisis that preceded independence and after the Regency period, when the advocates of political centralization dominated Brazilian politics.

Keywords

• republic
• America
• Europe
• freedom