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Preemption Act

(Encyclopedia)Preemption Act, statute passed (1841) by the U.S. Congress in response to the demands of the Western states that squatters be allowed to preempt lands. Pioneers often settled on public lands before th...

Canada Act

(Encyclopedia)Canada Act, also called the Constitutional Act of 1982, which made Canada a fully sovereign state. The British Parliament approved it on Mar. 25, 1982, and Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed it on Apr. 17,...

Volstead Act

(Encyclopedia)Volstead Act: see under Volstead, Andrew Joseph. ...

Smith Act

(Encyclopedia)Smith Act, 1940, passed by the U.S. Congress as the Alien Registration Act of 1940. The act, which made it an offense to advocate or belong to a group that advocated the violent overthrow of the gover...

Test Act

(Encyclopedia)Test Act, 1673, English statute that excluded from public office (both military and civil) all those who refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, who refused to receive the communion acc...

Sedition Act

(Encyclopedia)Sedition Act: see Alien and Sedition Acts. ...

Stamp Act

(Encyclopedia)Stamp Act, 1765, revenue law passed by the British Parliament during the ministry of George Grenville. The first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies, it required that all newspapers, pamp...

Hazare, Anna

(Encyclopedia)Hazare, Anna, 1937–, Indian social activist, b. Kisan Baburao Hazare. He served (1963–75) in the army then, inspired by the teachings of Vivekananda, devoted himself to social causes. Promoting wa...

Indian National Congress

(Encyclopedia)Indian National Congress, Indian political party, founded in 1885. Its founding members proposed economic reforms and wanted a larger role in the making of British policy for India. By 1907, however, ...

Harsha, Indian emperor

(Encyclopedia)Harsha hûrˈshə [key], b. c.590, Indian emperor (606–47). He became (606) king of a small state in the upper Ganges Valley, and by 612 he had built up a vast army with which he forged nearly all I...