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Hume, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Hume, Joseph, 1777–1855, English politician and reformer. Although a Tory in early life, he sat in Parliament from 1818 to 1855 (with only one interruption) as an indefatigable Radical. Hume was a l...

Bok, Derek Curtis

(Encyclopedia)Bok, Derek Curtis, 1930–, American educator and university president, b. Bryn Mawr, Pa., grad. Stanford (B.A., 1951) and Harvard (LL.B., 1954). A professor of law at Harvard from 1958, he served as ...

Crittenden Compromise

(Encyclopedia)Crittenden Compromise, in U.S. history, unsuccessful last-minute effort to avert the Civil War. It was proposed in Congress as a constitutional amendment in Dec., 1860, by Sen. John J. Crittenden of K...

Durant, Thomas Clark

(Encyclopedia)Durant, Thomas Clark, 1820–85, American railroad builder, chief figure in the construction of the Union Pacific RR, b. Lee, Mass. He was successful in building railroads in the Midwest, and, after t...

Blunt, James Gilpatrick

(Encyclopedia)Blunt, James Gilpatrick, 1826–81, American physician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Hancock co., Maine. He practiced medicine in Ohio and later in Kansas, where he became associated with Joh...

Ferrara-Florence, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Ferrara-Florence, Council of, 1438–45, second part of the 17th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church; the first part was the Council of Basel, canonically convened but after 1437 schismati...

child welfare

(Encyclopedia)child welfare, services provided for the care of disadvantaged children. Foundling institutions for orphans and abandoned children were the earliest attempts at child care, usually under religious aus...

Gettysburg campaign

(Encyclopedia)Gettysburg campaign, June–July, 1863, series of decisive battles of the U.S. Civil War. The Gettysburg battles included more than 160,000 soldiers and many camp laborers. These included thousands ...

O'Connor, John Joseph

(Encyclopedia)O'Connor, John Joseph, 1920–2000, American Roman Catholic cardinal, b. Philadelphia. He was ordained a priest in 1945 and served as a military chaplain for 27 years, achieving the rank of rear admir...

Mulock, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Mulock, Sir William, 1844–1944, Canadian statesman and jurist, b. Ontario. A lawyer, he served (1882–1905) as a Liberal in the House of Commons. As postmaster general (1896–1905) in Wilfrid Laur...