Throughout our political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. One in the Monarchical period (1824) and six in the Republican period (1891, 1934, 1937, 1946, 1967 and 1988). A constitution is a country's highest law, which contains a set of regulatory rules that deal with everything from the form of government to citizens' rights and duties. In the history of Brazilian constitutions, there has been an alternation between more closed and more democratic regimes. The character of the governments had an impact on the approval of the charters, which were either imposed or approved by Constituent Assemblies.