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Federalist, The

(Encyclopedia)Federalist, The, series of 85 political essays, sometimes called The Federalist Papers, written 1787–88 under the pseudonym “Publius.” Alexander Hamilton initiated the series with the immediate ...

home rule, municipal

(Encyclopedia)home rule, municipal, system adopted in many states of the United States by which a city is given the right to draft and amend its own charter and to regulate purely local matters without interference...

Robinson, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Charles, 1818–94, American politician, first governor of the state of Kansas (1861–63), b. Hardwick, Mass. He studied medicine and in 1849 he joined the gold rush to California, where th...

treason

(Encyclopedia)treason, legal term for various acts of disloyalty. The English law, first clearly stated in the Statute of Treasons (1350), originally distinguished high treason from petit (or petty) treason. Petit ...

extraterritoriality

(Encyclopedia)extraterritoriality or exterritoriality, privilege of immunity from local law enforcement enjoyed by certain aliens. Although physically present upon the territory of a foreign nation, those aliens po...

Madison, James

(Encyclopedia)Madison, James, 1751–1836, 4th President of the United States (1809–17), b. Port Conway, Va. When Jefferson triumphed in the election of 1800, Madison became (1801) his secretary of state. He se...

desertion

(Encyclopedia)desertion, in law, the forsaking of a station involving public or social duties without justification and with the intention of not returning. In military law, it is the abandonment of (or failure to ...

Duerk, Alene Bertha

(Encyclopedia)Duerk, Alene Bertha, 1920–2018, American rear admiral, b. Defiance, Ohio, grad. Toledo Hospital School of Nursing, 1941. Enlisting in the Navy Nurse Corps (1943), she was posted to naval hospitals i...

Freneau, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Freneau, Philip frēnōˈ [key], 1752–1832, American poet and journalist, b. New York City, grad. Princeton, 1771. During the American Revolution he served as soldier and privateer. His experiences ...

Meares, John

(Encyclopedia)Meares, John mērz [key], 1756?–1809, British naval officer, explorer, and trader. He served in the navy, in which he attained the rank of lieutenant, until after the Peace of Paris (1783), when he ...