Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Energy, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)Energy, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government responsible for coordinating national activities relating to the production, regulation, marketing, and conservation...

Communist party, in the United States

(Encyclopedia)Communist party, in the United States, political party that espoused the Marxist-Leninist principles of communism. In 1945, Browder's policy was attacked as being one of the “right deviationism,�...

Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin [Heb.,=son of fortune], younger son of Jacob and Rachel, eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. His mother, dying, named him Benoni bĕnōˈnī [key] [Heb.,=son of my sorrow]. ...

Delaware, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Delaware dĕlˈəwâr, –wər [key], city (2020 pop. 41,302), seat of Delaware co., central Ohio, on the ...

Thames, battle of the

(Encyclopedia)Thames, battle of the, engagement fought on the Thames River near Chatham, Ont. (Oct. 5, 1813), in the War of 1812. Gen. William H. Harrison led an American force of about 3,000 against a British army...

Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

Hale, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Benjamin, 1797–1863, American educator, b. Newburyport, Mass., grad. Bowdoin, 1818. He served as tutor at Bowdoin and in 1823 founded and became principal of Gardiner Lyceum, Gardiner, Maine, ...

Interior, United States Department of the

(Encyclopedia)Interior, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1849, delegated custodian of U.S. natural resources, and whose head, the Secretary of the Interior, has cabinet r...

Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamin bānhämēnˈ vēko͞oˈnyä mäkāˈnä [key], 1831–86, Chilean historian and journalist. A vigorous opponent of the conservative government of Manuel Montt, he was sente...

court system in the United States

(Encyclopedia)court system in the United States, judicial branches of the federal and state governments charged with the application and interpretation of the law. The U.S. court system is divided into two administ...