(Encyclopedia) Wilmot Proviso, 1846, amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to…
(Encyclopedia) Nye, Edgar WilsonNye, Edgar Wilsonnī [key], known as Bill Nye, 1850–96, American humorist and journalist, b. Shirley Mills, Maine. He lived in Wisconsin from 1852 to 1876, when he went…
(Encyclopedia) Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, 1909, passed by the U.S. Congress. It was the first change in tariff laws since the Dingley Act of 1897; the issue had been ignored by President Theodore…
(Encyclopedia) geranium, common name for some members of the Geraniaceae, a family of herbs and small shrubs of temperate and subtropical regions. Their long, beak-shaped fruits give them the popular…
(Encyclopedia) lilac, any plant of the genus Syringa, deciduous Old World shrubs or small trees of the family Oleaceae (olive family), widely cultivated as ornamentals. Since colonial days, the…
(Encyclopedia) Graham, Robert, later Robert Cunninghame Graham, c.1735–1797, Scottish poet and politician. He is best known for the lyric “If Doughty Deeds My Lady Please.” He inherited sizable…
(Encyclopedia) Daschle, Tom (Thomas Andrew Daschle)Daschle, Tomdăshˈəl [key], 1947–, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1987–2005), b. Aberdeen, S.Dak. A Democrat, he was elected to the U.S. House of…
(Encyclopedia) flamingo, common name for a large pink or red wading bird, similar to the related heron, stork, and spoonbill but with a longer neck, webbed feet, and a unique down-bent bill.…
(Encyclopedia) botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants.…
