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Compromise of 1850

(Encyclopedia)Compromise of 1850. The annexation of Texas to the United States and the gain of new territory by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the close of the Mexican War (1848) aggravated the hostility betwee...

Bank of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from...

Shuvalov, Piotr Andreyevich, Count

(Encyclopedia)Shuvalov, Piotr Andreyevich, Count pyôˈtər əndrāˈəvĭch sho͞oväˈləf [key], 1827–89, Russian administrator and diplomat. An adviser to Czar Alexander II, he opposed the czar's reforms and ...

Aehrenthal, Alois Lexa, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Aehrenthal, Alois Lexa, Graf von äˈlōēs lākˈsä gräf fən ârˈəntäl [key], 1854–1912, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (1906–12). The chief event of his ministry was the Austrian annexa...

Frederick VII, king of Denmark

(Encyclopedia)Frederick VII, 1808–63, king of Denmark, duke of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg (1848–63), son and successor of Christian VIII. He accepted a liberal constitution in 1849 that ended the absolu...

National Guard

(Encyclopedia)National Guard, U.S. militia. The militia is authorized by the Constitution of the United States, which also defines the militia's functions and the federal and state role. Article 1, Section 8 provid...

Veterans of Foreign Wars

(Encyclopedia)Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), organization created (1899) at Columbus, Ohio, by veterans of the Spanish-American War. It received a charter from Congress in 1936. The organization later admitted vet...

Andrássy, Julius, Count, 1823–90, Hungarian politician

(Encyclopedia)Andrássy, Julius, Count ŏnˈdräsh-shē [key], 1823–90, Hungarian politician. One of the leading figures in the 1848–49 Hungarian revolution, he supported the liberal program of Louis Kossuth an...

Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of, 1766–1841, British diplomat. He served on diplomatic missions to Vienna, Brussels, Berlin, and Constantinople. While in Constantinople (1799–1803), he arranged fo...

Gottheil, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Gottheil, Gustav gŏtˈhīl [key], 1827–1903, American Reform rabbi, b. Prussia. He served as assistant (1855–60) in the Berlin Reform Temple and as rabbi (1860–73) in Manchester, England. From ...