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XYZ Affair

(Encyclopedia)XYZ Affair, name usually given to an incident (1797–98) in Franco-American diplomatic relations. The United States had in 1778 entered into an alliance with France, but after the outbreak of the Fre...

Farnborough, Thomas Erskine May, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Farnborough, Thomas Erskine May, 1st Baron: see May, Thomas Erskine. ...

Leeds, Thomas Osborne, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Leeds, Thomas Osborne, 1st duke of: see Danby, Thomas Osborne, earl of. ...

De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron

(Encyclopedia)De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron dĕlˈəwər [key], 1577–1618, English colonial governor of Virginia. He saw fighting in the Netherlands and was knighted when serving in Ireland. He succeeded to...

Dorset, Thomas Sackville, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Dorset, Thomas Sackville, 1st earl of: see Sackville, Thomas, 1st earl of Dorset. ...

Bruce, Thomas, 7th earl of Elgin

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, Thomas, 7th earl of Elgin: see Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of. ...

Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 3d Baron Fairfax of

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 3d Baron Fairfax of: see Fairfax of Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 3d Baron. ...

constitution, principles of government

(Encyclopedia)constitution, fundamental principles of government in a nation, either implied in its laws, institutions, and customs, or embodied in one fundamental document or in several. In the first category—cu...

Marbury v. Madison

(Encyclopedia)Marbury v. Madison, case decided in 1803 by the U.S. Supreme Court. William Marbury had been commissioned justice of the peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams in the “midnight ap...

Coleman, William Thaddeus, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Coleman, William Thaddeus, Jr., 1920–2017, African-American lawyer and U.S. cabinet official, b. Philadelphia, grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1941, Harvard Law School, 1946. He clerked for Justice Fra...