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Baptists

(Encyclopedia)Baptists, denomination of Protestant Christians holding a distinctive belief with regard to the ordinance of baptism. Since 1644 the name has been applied to those who maintain that baptism should be ...

Fuller, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Fuller, Margaret, 1810–50, American writer, lecturer, and public intellectual, b. Cambridgeport (now part of Cambridge), Mass. She was one of the most influential personalities in the American liter...

Wesley, John

(Encyclopedia)Wesley, John, 1703–91, English evangelical preacher, founder of Methodism, b. Epworth, Lincolnshire. After his conversion, Wesley became involved in evangelistic work, in the course of which he is...

Morris, Gouverneur

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Gouverneur gəvərnērˈ, –no͝orˈ [key], 1752–1816, American political leader and diplomat, b. Morrisania, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx); a grandson of Lewis Morris (1671–1746), he was ...

MacDonald, Ramsay

(Encyclopedia)MacDonald, Ramsay (James Ramsay McDonald), 1866–1937, British statesman, b. Scotland. The illegitimate son of a servant, he went as a young man to London, where he joined the Social Democratic Feder...

transcontinental railroad

(Encyclopedia)transcontinental railroad, in U.S. history, rail connection with the Pacific coast. In 1845, Asa Whitney presented to Congress a plan for the federal government to subsidize the building of a railroad...

Colombo

(Encyclopedia)Colombo kəlŭmˈbō [key], largest city (2021 est. metro area pop. 619,000) and former capi...

Iturbide, Agustín de

(Encyclopedia)Iturbide, Agustín de ägo͞ostēnˈ dā ēto͞orbēˈᵺā [key], 1783–1824, Mexican revolutionist, emperor of Mexico (1822–23). An officer in the royalist army, he was sympathetic to independenc...

Iceland

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Iceland, Icel. Ísland, officially Republic of Iceland, republic (2015 est. pop. 330,000), 39,698 sq mi (102,819 sq km), the westernmost state of Europe, occupying an island in the Atlantic Oce...

temple, edifice of worship

(Encyclopedia)temple, edifice or sometimes merely an enclosed area dedicated to the worship of a deity and the enshrinement of holy objects connected with such worship. The temple has been employed in most of the w...