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Raleigh

(Encyclopedia)Raleigh rôlˈē, rälˈē [key], city (1990 pop. 207,951), state capital, and seat of Wake co., central N.C.; the site was selected for the capital in 1788, and the city was laid out and inc. 1792. I...

election

(Encyclopedia)election, choosing a candidate for office in an organization by the vote of those enfranchised to cast a ballot. In the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and many other nations, usuall...

Kentucky, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Kentucky kəntŭkˈē, kĭn– [key], state of the SE central United States. It is bordered by West Virginia and Virginia (E); Tennessee (S); the Mississippi River, across which lies Missouri (...

Fitzpatrick, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fitzpatrick, Thomas, c.1799–1854, American trapper, fur trader, and guide, one of the greatest of the mountain men, b. Co. Cavan, Ireland. He emigrated early to the United States, and by 1823 he was...

Maupassant, Guy de

(Encyclopedia)Maupassant, Guy de gē də mōpäsäNˈ [key], 1850–93, French novelist and short-story writer, of an ancient Norman family. He worked in a government office at Paris and became known c.1880 as the ...

Wiseman, Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Wiseman, Frederick, 1930–, American documentary filmmaker, b. Boston, grad. Williams College (B.A., 1951), Yale Law School (LL.B., 1954). Wiseman practiced and taught law for about a decade, but his...

Welty, Eudora

(Encyclopedia)Welty, Eudora, 1909–2001, American author, b. Jackson, Miss., grad. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1929. One of the important American regional writers of the 20th cent. and one of the finest short-story write...

whiskey

(Encyclopedia)whiskey [from the Gaelic for “water of life”], spirituous liquor distilled from a fermented mash of grains, usually rye, barley, oats, wheat, or corn. Inferior whiskeys are made from potatoes, bee...

Black Hawk War

(Encyclopedia)Black Hawk War, conflict between the Sac and Fox and the United States in 1832. After the War of 1812, whites settling the Illinois country exerted pressure on the Native Americans. A treaty of 1804, ...

Snake, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Snake, river, 1,038 mi (1,670 km) long, NW United States, the chief tributary of the Columbia; once called the Lewis River. The Snake rises in NW Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park, flows through J...