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treason

(Encyclopedia)treason, legal term for various acts of disloyalty. The English law, first clearly stated in the Statute of Treasons (1350), originally distinguished high treason from petit (or petty) treason. Petit ...

Gallatin, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Gallatin, Albert gălˈətĭn [key], 1761–1849, American financier and public official, b. Geneva, Switzerland. Left an orphan at nine, Gallatin was reared by his patrician relatives and had an exce...

Sons of Liberty

(Encyclopedia)Sons of Liberty, secret organizations formed in the American colonies in protest against the Stamp Act (1765). They took their name from a phrase used by Isaac Barré in a speech against the Stamp Act...

Clarkson, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Clarkson, Thomas, 1760–1846, English abolitionist. He devoted most of his life to agitation against slavery, and the voluminous information that he gathered on the slave trade helped to influence Pa...

Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of, 1769–1852, British soldier and statesman. Wellington, “the iron duke,” with the soldier's taste for discipline and order and the aristocrat's distrus...

John VI, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John VI, 1769–1826, king of Portugal (1816–26), son of Maria I and Peter III. When his mother became insane, John assumed the reins of government (1792), although he did not formally become regent...

Carpenter, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, Mary, 1807–77, English educator. She devoted her life to the establishment of schools and institutions and the promotion of educational reforms. In 1835 she organized the Working and Visi...

state of emergency

(Encyclopedia)state of emergency, situation in which a government or a government body is empowered to act with enhanced powers in order to respond to a crisis. The enhanced or emergency powers, and in many cases i...

Representation of the People Acts

(Encyclopedia)Representation of the People Acts, statutes enacted by the British Parliament to continue the extension of the franchise begun by the Reform Bills (see under Reform Acts). As a result of the governmen...

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(Encyclopedia)Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), multinational organization (est. 1960, formally constituted 1961) that coordinates petroleum policies and economic aid among oil-producing nations...