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President Lincoln and Soldier's Home National Monument

(Encyclopedia)President Lincoln and Soldier's Home National Monument: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

Browning, Orville Hickman

(Encyclopedia)Browning, Orville Hickman, 1806–81, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1866–69), b. Harrison co., Ky. One of the organizers of the Republican party in Illinois, Browning helped secure his friend Linc...

Thanksgiving Day

(Encyclopedia)Thanksgiving Day, national holiday in the United States commemorating the Pilgrims' celebration of the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony in 1621, after a winter of great starvation and privation. ...

Volk, Leonard Wells

(Encyclopedia)Volk, Leonard Wells, 1828–95, American sculptor, b. Wellstown (now Wells), N.Y. In 1848 he went to St. Louis, where he studied drawing and worked at funerary sculpture. With the aid of Stephen A. Do...

executive order

(Encyclopedia)executive order, in the United States, official document initiated and signed by the president containing directives concerning how the executive branch shall carry out its responsibilities under the ...

Huz

(Encyclopedia)Huz, in the Bible, nephew of Abraham.

Melchizedek

(Encyclopedia)Melchizedek or Melchisedec both: mĕlkĭzˈədĕk [key] [Heb.,=king of righteousness], in the Bible, king of Salem and “priest of the most high God.” He blessed Abraham after the defeat of Chedorl...

Genesis

(Encyclopedia)Genesis jĕnˈəsĭs [key], 1st book of the Bible, first of the five books of the Law (the Pentateuch or Torah) ascribed by tradition to Moses. Beginning with two accounts of the creation and of human...

Hampton Roads Peace Conference

(Encyclopedia)Hampton Roads Peace Conference, meeting held on Feb. 3, 1865, on board the Union transport River Queen in Hampton Roads, Va., with the object of ending the Civil War. President Lincoln and Secretary o...

Donald, David Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Donald, David Herbert, 1920–2009, American historian, b. Goodman, Miss. After receiving his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Illinois in 1946, he taught at Columbia (1947–49; 1951–59), Smith (1949–51),...