Words in the US Constitution

Our latest ebook, Words in the US Constitution is ready now. Please download and install the Apple /Nook /Sony, etc. or the Kindle / Kindle Fire version. Try it for 24 hours. If you like what you see, please purchase a license. The price is $1.99 US each; bulk rates are available. One license is needed for each mobile unit or computer on which the ebook is installed.

Ideas are communicated through words that are arranged in relationship with one another. One way to discover the ideas in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution is to browse an index of word patterns -- combinations of words that appear near each other. Here are two super-size indexes, together with the full text of the Declaration and the US Constitution (1527 pages altogether). Every combination of words likely to be meaningful is included. Every combination is linked to all the places where it occurs. Click the link, and you are there in the Declaration or in the Constitution. Links within a word combination are arranged in order of likely relevance to the combination of words being studied. This is more than full boolean search on a mobile device; it is a tool for recognizing word patterns and getting at meaning in the founding documents of the United States of America. (Your ebook reader just got a lot smarter!)

Word patterns and the text of the Declaration of Independence are included. Why? This is from the introduction:

Under the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, European governments held to the position that any supposed rights were bestowed as gracious gifts of the Crown, and could be taken away at the sovereign's pleasure. The Declaration of Independence was a breath-taking repudiation. Its signers took the view that rights do not flow from kings and government; rights originate with the Creator and are inherent to the dignity of every human person.

The decision in favor of independence from the British under King George III was a momentous act of courage and vision. The signers risked being hung for treason. But they had had their fill of tyranny. (Look up tyrant, tyrants, and tyranny in the word studies for the Declaration.) Their new and revolutionary view: Government is to be the SERVANT OF OUR RIGHTS and NOT THE MASTER. Further: Government that presumes itself to be the dispenser / arbiter / source of rights is by definition a tyranny.

So in this ebook the Declaration comes first, providing the ethos, the emotion, the vision, the commitment to a bold new experiment in human dignity. The Constitution follows as the answer to the question: How shall we put into effect our vision, our Declaration? -- that rights don't flow from kings and government, but rights are "inalienable". The Constitution emerged as a system of checks and balances to ensure once and for always that the rights of citizens remain beyond the grasp of every future Congress, Judiciary, or Executive.