Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dred Scott Case

(Encyclopedia)Dred Scott Case, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1856–57. It involved the then bitterly contested issue of the status of slavery in the federal territories. In 1834, Dred Scott, a black slav...

Republican

(Encyclopedia)Republican, river, c.420 mi (680 km) long, formed in S Nebr. by the junction of the North Fork and Arikaree rivers. It is joined by the South Fork at Benkelman and flows E across the rolling grassland...

popular sovereignty

(Encyclopedia)popular sovereignty, in U.S. history, doctrine under which the status of slavery in the territories was to be determined by the settlers themselves. Although the doctrine won wide support as a means o...

Chase, Salmon Portland

(Encyclopedia)Chase, Salmon Portland, 1808–73, American public official and jurist, 6th chief justice of the United States (1864–73), b. Cornish, N.H. Admitted to the bar in 1829, he defended runaway blacks so ...

Benton, Thomas Hart, U.S. Senator

(Encyclopedia)Benton, Thomas Hart, 1782–1858, U.S. Senator (1821–51), b. Hillsboro, N.C. Benton moved to Tennessee in 1809, was admitted to the bar in 1811, and served (1809–11) in the state senate. In 1815, ...

Nebraska

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nebraska nəbrăsˈkə [key], Great Plains state of the central United States. It is bordered by Iowa and Missouri, across the Missouri River (E), Kansas (S), Colorado (SW), Wyoming (NW), and S...

Fessenden, William Pitt

(Encyclopedia)Fessenden, William Pitt, 1806–69, American politician, b. Boscawen, N.H. Admitted (1827) to the bar, he began practice in Portland in 1829 and by 1835 was regarded as one of the leading lawyers of M...

Dawes Act

(Encyclopedia)Dawes Act or General Allotment Act, 1887, passed by the U.S. Congress to provide for the granting of landholdings (allotments, usually 160 acres/65 hectares) to individual Native Americans, replacing ...

Antitrust Act

(Encyclopedia)Antitrust Act: see Clayton Antitrust Act; Sherman Antitrust Act. ...

Homestead Act

(Encyclopedia)Homestead Act, 1862, passed by the U.S. Congress. It provided for the transfer of 160 acres (65 hectares) of unoccupied public land to each homesteader on payment of a nominal fee after five years of ...