The United States Constitution
Published 2011 · 25,850 words · about 2 hours at an average pace · Politics & Society, History, Nonfiction
How hard is The United States Constitution to read?
The United States Constitution scores 42 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 50 out of 100
- The text uses formal 18th-century legal diction such as "emoluments," "impeachment" and "habeas corpus," but most words are plain. It is more demanding than The Great Gatsby's prose in register, though far less ornate than Moby-Dick.
- Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
- The Preamble is one sentence, and clauses like the Article II electoral procedure run long with stacked conditions and provisos. Short numbered sections keep it navigable, comparable to the measured formality of The Remains of the Day.
- Abstraction: 55 out of 100
- Most provisions are concrete procedures: ages for office, terms, vote counts. Ideas such as "Union," "Liberty" and "Tranquility" in the Preamble set an abstract frame, but the body stays practical.
- Information density: 65 out of 100
- In about 4,500 words (this edition's count of 25,850 aside), seven articles lay out the structure of three branches, federalism, amendment and ratification. Each clause carries a rule, so the text is compressed, though it lacks the digressions of War and Peace.
How The United States Constitution is regarded
The United States Constitution holds a literary regard score of 90 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.