The objective of this thesis is to point out the links between the political thought, developed under the influence of the Enlightenment philosophy, the colonial politics employed by the European metropolis and the literary patterns of Arcadism. The exchange of ideas brought about by the Enlightenment was welcomed by Brazilian scholars who started to acquire political and cultural status in the colony: those scholars who were high ranking officials in the colonial administration conspired against that same administration. The spirit of independence, which thrived in the metropolitan environment, was ahead of the situation in South America. The poets of that period, subordinated to political and literary conventions, dramatized this mismatch: literature became a common vehicle for the complex political thought of the time.