ABSTRACT
Jose Anselmo Correa Henriques in 1816, “having made from this vast continent a flourishing empire (imperio florescente), is the work of the most perfect politics that human understanding has created.”1 Thus invoking the image of American power and prosperity, Correa Henriques in effect recapitulated the expectations for renewal shared by exiles and Rio de Janeiro’s residents alike. As we have seen, they argued that in the wake of the transfer of the court, the political and moral integrity of the Portuguese nation could be restored and the Portuguese monarchy could be more formidable than ever. In constructing the new, virtuous, and allegiant city and royal court of Rio de Janeiro, royal officials, newcomers, and residents then made manifest this renewal and prosperity, and affirmed that the American future rested on the vin dication of their rights as vassals as much as a defense of the sovereign’s authority.
