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Tocqueville, Alexis de

(Encyclopedia)Tocqueville, Alexis de älĕksēs də tôkvēlˈ [key], 1805–59, French politician and writer. A nobleman, he was prominent in politics, particularly just before and just after the Revolution of 184...

Vallandigham, Clement Laird

(Encyclopedia)Vallandigham, Clement Laird vəlănˈdĭghămˌ, –gămˌ [key], 1820–71, American political leader, leader of the Copperheads in the Civil War, b. New Lisbon (now Lisbon), Ohio. He became (1842) a...

free verse

(Encyclopedia)free verse, term loosely used for rhymed or unrhymed verse made free of conventional and traditional limitations and restrictions in regard to metrical structure. Cadence, especially that of common sp...

Jersey City

(Encyclopedia)Jersey City, city (1990 pop. 228,537), seat of Hudson co., NE N.J., a port on a peninsula formed by the Hudson and Hackensack rivers and Upper New York Bay, opposite lower Manhattan; settled before 16...

Adams, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Samuel, 1722–1803, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass.; second cousin of John Adams. An unsuccessful businessman, he becam...

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett

(Encyclopedia)Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806–61, English poet, b. Durham. A delicate and precocious child, she spent a great part of her early life in a state of semi-invalidism. She read voraciously—philoso...

Burnside, Ambrose Everett

(Encyclopedia)Burnside, Ambrose Everett, 1824–81, Union general in the U.S. Civil War, b. Liberty, Ind. He saw brief service in the Mexican War and remained in the army until 1853, when he entered business in Rho...

Pennebaker, D. A.

(Encyclopedia)Pennebaker, D. A. (Donn Alan Pennebaker), 1925–2019, pioneering documentary filmmaker, b. Evanston, Ill. His first film, Daybreak Express (1958), is a five-minute short detailing New York's doomed T...

Pledge of Allegiance

(Encyclopedia)Pledge of Allegiance, in full, Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, oath that proclaims loyalty to the United States. and its national symbol. It reads: “I pledge allegi...

gourd

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Wild balsam apple, Echinocystis Jobata, a member of the gourd family gourd gôrd, go͝ord [key], common name for some members of the Cucurbitaceae, a family of plants whose range includes all ...