During its independent political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. The most recent was ratified on October 5, 1988. Imperial Constitution (1824) Background Prior to its independence on September 7, 1822, Brazil had no formal Constitution, since Portugal only adopted its first Constitution on September 23, 1822, 16 days after Brazil proclaimed independence. In 1823, Emperor Pedro I started the political process of writing a Constitution. The elaboration of the first Constitution of Brazil was quite difficult and the power struggle involved resulted in a long-lasting unrest that plagued the country for nearly two decades. Two major facts increased the troubles: Large numbers of recent immigrants from Portugal (the so-called "Portuguese Party"), who wanted to keep their privileges or who were still loyal to the metropolitan government. These were found both among the wealthier parts of the population, as businessmen controlling Brazil's international trade, and the lower ones, as tradesmen and free urban workers (the Brazilian elite was mostly rural). The majority of the population was composed of slaves, prompting the whites to fear being massacred in the event of a rebellion caused by a failing state. The first circumstance meant that despite strong support of the Crown Prince Pedro I by the Brazilian landowners (the so-called "Brazilian Party"), the opinions of the reinóis (name then given to recent immigrants from Portugal) should be considered. As each side had very distinct and different objectives none could prevail and a compromise was needed. There were also additional problems: the Constitutional Assembly had been elected to decide the applicability of Portuguese laws in Brazil, not to draft a new constitution. As a result, some of the Portuguese deputies refused to take part in it. On the other hand, the liberal Brazilian deputies had been persecuted: some were exiled while others were imprisoned. Thus the Constitutional Assembly did not hear an appreciable number of opinions and would reflect the objectives of the "Brazilian Party", to the detriment of the "Portuguese Party" and the liberals. As the draft constitution progressed it became clear that the deputies were trying to establish a constitution that would: curtail the powers of the monarch, restrict most political rights to landowners and deny them to the Portuguese, and establish an authoritarian, but constitutional, monarchy, whose head of government would be the Emperor himself, aided by a group of ministers of his choice. The emperor did not want to serve