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Daughters of the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a Colonial patriotic society in the United States, open to women having one or more ancestors who aided the cause of the Revolution. The society was organiz...

American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called th...

revolution

(Encyclopedia)revolution, in a political sense, fundamental and violent change in the values, political institutions, social structure, leadership, and policies of a society. The totality of change implicit in this...

Morton, John, political leader in the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Morton, John, c.1724–1777, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Chester co., Pa. He was a member of the Pennsylvania assembly (1756–66, 1769â€...

Cultural Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Cultural Revolution, 1966–76, mass mobilization of urban Chinese youth inaugurated by Mao Zedong in an attempt to prevent the development of a bureaucratized Soviet style of Communism. Mao closed sc...

commercial revolution

(Encyclopedia)commercial revolution, in European history, a fundamental change in the quantity and scope of commerce. In the later Middle Ages steady economic expansion had seen the rise of towns and the advent of ...

Industrial Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Industrial Revolution, term usually applied to the social and economic changes that mark the transition from a stable agricultural and commercial society to a modern industrial society relying on comp...

French Revolution

(Encyclopedia)French Revolution, political upheaval of world importance in France that began in 1789. The French Revolution, though it seemed a failure in 1799 and appeared nullified by 1815, had far-reachin...

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