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Davidson, George

(Encyclopedia)Davidson, George, 1825–1911, American geographer and astronomer, b. England. From 1845 to 1895 he was on the staff of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. He charted (1850–60) the U.S. Pacific coas...

corporal punishment

(Encyclopedia)corporal punishment, physical chastisement of an offender. At one extreme it includes the death penalty (see capital punishment), but the term usually refers to punishments like flogging, caning, muti...

zoning

(Encyclopedia)zoning, legislative regulations by which a municipal government seeks to control the use of buildings and land within the municipality. It has become, in the United States, a widespread method of cont...

United States, Great Seal of the

(Encyclopedia)United States, Great Seal of the, official impression that validates a United States government document. It was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1782 and, with only minor changes in the design,...

Delaware, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Delaware dĕlˈəwâr, –wər [key], English name given several closely related Native American groups of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American langua...

Americanization

(Encyclopedia)Americanization, term used to describe the movement during the first quarter of the 20th cent. whereby the immigrant in the United States was induced to assimilate American speech, ideals, traditions,...

Butler, Richard Austen

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Richard Austen, 1902–82, British politician. Educated at Cambridge, he entered Parliament in 1929 as a Conservative. As minister of education (1941–45), he piloted through Parliament the E...

state

(Encyclopedia)state: see government.

Youngstown State University

(Encyclopedia)Youngstown State University, at Youngstown, Ohio; coeducational; est. 1908 as a department of the Youngstown Association School sponsored by the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1921 the school b...

Radić, Stjepan

(Encyclopedia)Radić, Stjepan stĕˈfän [key], 1871–1928, Croatian politician. Of peasant origin, he early became active in politics and founded (1905) the Croatian Peasant party. In 1918 he opposed the union of...

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