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This article aims at exploring the history of the concept of Constitution among the political and intellectual elites of the Luso-Brazilian world between 1750 and 1850. Although the word may be found in this space since the beginning of the period, its modern meaning only appeared after the constitutional movement of 1820. Nevertheless, the idea of an “old constitutionalism” was not forsaken. Therefore, in order to understand the concept of constitution in Brazil during decades that followed the constitutional movement, it is necessary to identify the underground tensions between these meanings, which were usually hidden beneath the surface of political conflict pitching liberals against conservatives.