Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Aldrich, Nelson Wilmarth

(Encyclopedia)Aldrich, Nelson Wilmarth, 1841–1915, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, b. Foster, R.I. He rose in local politics as state assemblyman (1875–76) and U.S. Representative (1879–81) before he served a...

Leonard, Bobby (Robert Leonard)

(Encyclopedia) Leonard, Bobby (Robert Leonard), 1932-2021, American basketball player and coach, b. Terre Haute, Ind. Leonard played basketball and tennis in high...

Barnard, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Barnard, Henry, 1811–1900, American educator, b. Hartford, Conn., grad. Yale, 1830. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1835. As a member (1837–39) of the Connecticut legislature, he ori...

Catholic Emancipation

(Encyclopedia)Catholic Emancipation, term applied to the process by which Roman Catholics in the British Isles were relieved in the late 18th and early 19th cent. of civil disabilities. They had been under oppressi...

Interstate Commerce Commission

(Encyclopedia)Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), former independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1887; it was charged with regulating the economics and services of specified carriers engaged in ...

Intolerable Acts

(Encyclopedia)Intolerable Acts, name given by American patriots to five laws (including the Quebec Act) adopted by Parliament in 1774, which limited the political and geographical freedom of the colonists. Four of ...

inclosure

(Encyclopedia)inclosure or enclosure, in British history, the process of inclosing (with fences, ditches, hedges, or other barriers) land formerly subject to common rights. Such land included fields cultivated by t...

Fitzherbert, Maria Anne

(Encyclopedia)Fitzherbert, Maria Anne, 1756–1837, wife of George, Prince of Wales (later George IV). He was her third husband. The marriage (1785) was illegal by the terms of the Royal Marriage Act (1772) and the...

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

(Encyclopedia)Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Rus. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, former republic. It was established in 1922 and dissolved in 1991. The Soviet Union was the first state...

Ferguson, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Ferguson, James Edward, 1871–1944, governor of Texas (1915–17), b. Bell co., Tex. After an adventurous youth he rose from poverty to become a lawyer, large landowner, and banker. Although unknown ...