It’s the 250th anniversary of Samuel Johnson Dictionary of the English Language , one of the very first great dictionaries, and, as such, reason enough to celebrate in itself. But as Jack Lynch observes in a New York Times commentary, Dr. Johnson’s dictionary can also serve as “an unlikely guide to America’s history” because the leading “members of the founding generation relied on Johnson when they wrote their most important works — the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Federalist Papers . . . ” What’s more, says Lynch, “his dictionary remains a living document, even today,” because “lawyers and legal scholars have been using it to unpack the meanings of our founders’ most important documents. In the last few years, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court have quoted Johnson in their opinions.” Thus, says Lynch, even though Johnson “detested American democratic princilples . . . It is fitting that a young nation trying to shake off a king would be attracted to a lexicographer who rejected a tyrannical vision of the language.”