Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Michael the Brave

(Encyclopedia)Michael the Brave, d. 1601, prince of Walachia (1593–1601), of Transylvania (1599–1600), and of Moldavia (1600). Michael was one of Romania's greatest medieval rulers, as well as a celebrated mili...

Fletcher v. Peck

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher v. Peck, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1810, involving the Yazoo land fraud. The court ruled that an act of the Georgia legislature rescinding a land grant was unconstitutional be...

lobbying

(Encyclopedia)lobbying, practice and profession of influencing governmental decisions, carried out by agents who present the concerns of special interests to legislators and administrators. The term originated in t...

Grand Army of the Republic

(Encyclopedia)Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), organization established by Civil War veterans of the Union army and navy. Principal figures in the founding of the GAR were John A. Logan and Richard J. Oglesby. The...

Seneca, the elder, c.60 b.c.–c.a.d. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer

(Encyclopedia)Seneca, the elder (Lucius, or Marcus, Annaeus Seneca) lo͞oˈshəs, märˈkəs ənēˈəs sĕnˈəkə [key], c.60 b.c.–c.a.d. 37, Roman rhetorician and writer, b. Corduba (present-day Córdoba), Spa...

Text of the Constitution of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Text1 of the Constitution of the United States Preamble Article I Article II Article III Article IV Article V Article VI Article VII Amendment I Amendment II Am...

Henry the Navigator

(Encyclopedia)Henry the Navigator, 1394–1460, prince of Portugal, patron of exploration. Because he fought with extraordinary valor in the Portuguese conquest of Ceuta (1415), he was created duke of Viseu by his ...

Wisdom, John Minor

(Encyclopedia)Wisdom, John Minor, 1905–99, American jurist, b. New Orleans; grad. Tulane Univ. Law School, 1929. A Republican, long in private practice, he was named to the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in...

reciprocal trade agreement

(Encyclopedia)reciprocal trade agreement, international commercial treaty in which two or more nations grant equally advantageous trade concessions to each other. It usually refers to treaties dealing with tariffs....

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

(Encyclopedia)National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), organization composed mainly of American blacks, but with many white members, whose goal is the end of racial discrimination and seg...