Columbia Encyclopedia

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Dodd, William

(Encyclopedia)Dodd, William, 1729–77, English author. At one time king's chaplain, he ran heavily into debt, forged a bond, and was sentenced to death. Dr. Johnson led a movement to obtain clemency, but Dodd was ...

Houston, University of

(Encyclopedia)Houston, University of, at Houston, Tex.; coeducational; est. 1927 as a junior college, became a four-year institution in 1934, became a state-supported university in 1963. Campuses at Clear Lake, Vic...

Indian Removal Act

(Encyclopedia)Indian Removal Act, in U.S. history, law signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 providing for the general resettlement of Native Americans to lands W of the Mississippi River. From 1830 to 1840 ap...

Parton, James

(Encyclopedia)Parton, James, 1822–91, American biographer, b. England. He came to the United States in 1827. In 1848 he joined the staff of N. P. Willis's Home Journal in New York City. His biographical writing b...

Goldsboro

(Encyclopedia)Goldsboro, city (2020 pop. 33,657), seat of Wayne co., E central N.C.; inc. 1847. Goldsboro is a marketplace for bright-leaf tobacco and a shipping cent...

Jeffries, James J.

(Encyclopedia)Jeffries, James J., 1875–1953, American boxer, b. Carroll, Fairfield co., Ohio. He began boxing in 1896, and in 1899 he won the heavyweight championship from Robert Fitzsimmons at Coney Island in Ne...

Gass, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Gass, Patrick, 1771–1870, American explorer, member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, b. Perry co., Pa. His journal of the trip across the continent first appeared in 1807 and was widely read. Gass...

Edinburgh

(Encyclopedia)Edinburgh, Town (2020 pop. 4618), Bartholomew, Johnson, and Shelby cos; S central Ind; est. c. 1823. The town is a suburb of Columbus, In., near the juncture of the Big Blue River ...

Warrensburg

(Encyclopedia)Warrensburg, city (1990 pop. 15,244), seat of Johnson co., W Mo.; settled 1833, inc. as a city 1855. The city is situated in a dairy and farm region that principally raises wheat, corn, sorghum, and c...

sharecropping

(Encyclopedia)sharecropping, an agricultural system in which a landowner allows a tenant to use their land in return for a share of the crop produced. In the United S...