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embezzlement

(Encyclopedia)embezzlement, wrongful use, for one's own selfish ends, of the property of another when that property has been legally entrusted to one. Such an act was not larceny at common law because larceny was c...

Bryce, James Bryce, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Bryce, James Bryce, 1st Viscount, 1838–1922, British historian, statesman, and diplomat, b. Belfast. After his education at the Univ. of Glasgow and at Oxford, he practiced law in London for a short...

Watterson, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Watterson, Henry, 1840–1921, American journalist, b. Washington, D.C. Throughout most of his life he was known as “Marse Henry.” Early in life he became a Washington newspaper reporter. He serve...

sharecropping

(Encyclopedia)sharecropping, an agricultural system in which a landowner allows a tenant to use their land in return for a share of the crop produced. In the United S...

Lorde, Audrey Geraldine

(Encyclopedia)Lorde, Audre, 1934–1992, African-American poet, essayist, and civil rights activist, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (M.L.S. 1961). Lorde was born to...

Yankee

(Encyclopedia)Yankee, term used by Americans generally in reference to a native of New England and by non-Americans, especially the British, in reference to an American of any section. The word is most likely from ...

Trent Affair

(Encyclopedia)Trent Affair, incident in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Great Britain, which occurred during the American Civil War. On Nov. 8, 1861, the British mail packet Trent, carrying J...

New Madrid

(Encyclopedia)New Madrid măˈdrĭd [key], city (2000 pop. 3,334), seat of New Madrid co., extreme SE Mo., on Mississippi River at the sweeping New Madrid Bend; inc. 1808. A river port, the city is protected by hig...

Atchison, David Rice

(Encyclopedia)Atchison, David Rice ăchˈĭsən [key], 1807–86, U.S. Senator, b. Frogtown, Ky. A lawyer and politician in Missouri, he served in the Senate from 1843 to 1855. As a proslavery Democrat, Atchison wa...

Lavalleja, Juan Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Lavalleja, Juan Antonio hwän äntōˈnyō läväyāˈhä [key], c.1786–1853, Uruguayan revolutionist. After serving under José Gervasio Artigas, Lavalleja was imprisoned for a short time by Brazil...