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national bank

(Encyclopedia)national bank, in the United States, financial institution of a class authorized by Congress in acts of 1863 and 1864. The acts were intended to provide a way of marketing the large bond issues made n...

Menchú, Rigoberta

(Encyclopedia)Menchú, Rigoberta rēˌgōbĕrˈtä mĕncho͞oˈ [key], 1959–, Guatemalan social reformer. Of Mayan descent, she and her family were caught in Guatemala's bloody civil war. Protesters against human...

Foote, Henry Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Foote, Henry Stuart, 1804–80, U.S. senator (1847–52) and governor of Mississippi (1852–54), b. Fauquier co., Va. An able criminal lawyer, he practiced in several different states. In the U.S. Se...

Kefauver, Carey Estes

(Encyclopedia)Kefauver, Carey Estes kēfôvər [key], 1903–63, U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1949–63), b. Madisonville, Tenn., known as Estes Kefauver. He became a Chattanooga lawyer and in 1938 was elected to t...

Wilson, William Lyne

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, William Lyne, 1843–1900, American legislator, cabinet member, and university president, b. Jefferson co., Va. (now in W.Va.). He was a private in the Confederate army in the Civil War, and a...

Legal Tender cases

(Encyclopedia)Legal Tender cases, lawsuits brought to the U.S. Supreme Court involving the constitutionality of the Legal Tender Act of 1862, which was passed to meet currency needs during the Civil War. The act ha...

Blackmun, Harry Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Blackmun, Harry Andrew blăkˈmən [key], 1908–99, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1970–94), b. Nashville, Ill. Educated at Harvard, he practiced law privately, was general counsel to...

Nichiren

(Encyclopedia)Nichiren nĭchˈərən [key] [Jap.,=sun lotus], 1222–82, Japanese Buddhist priest, founder of Nichiren Buddhism. Of humble birth, Nichiren (whose given name was Zennichimaro) early became a monk, an...

Greeley, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Greeley, Horace, 1811–72, American newspaper editor, founder of the New York Tribune, b. Amherst, N.H. Greeley supported Ulysses S. Grant during the first years of his administration but came to r...