Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cartwright, John

(Encyclopedia)Cartwright, John, 1740–1824, English reformer and pamphleteer; brother of Edmund Cartwright. He had an early career in the navy. He declined to fight the American colonists and wrote American Indepe...

Bradford, Augustus Williamson

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, Augustus Williamson, 1806–81, Civil War governor of Maryland (1862–66), b. Bel Air, Md. As a delegate to the 1861 peace conference in Washington, he strongly pleaded for the Union and be...

Calhoun, John Caldwell

(Encyclopedia)Calhoun, John Caldwell kălˌho͞onˈ [key], 1782–1850, American statesman and political philosopher, b. near Abbeville, S.C., grad. Yale, 1804. He was an intellectual giant of political life in his...

Missouri, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Missouri mĭzo͝orˈē, –ə [key], one of the midwestern states of the United States. It is bordered by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, across the Mississippi River (E), Arkansas (S), Okla...

Kansas-Nebraska Act

(Encyclopedia)Kansas-Nebraska Act, bill that became law on May 30, 1854, by which the U.S. Congress established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. By 1854 the organization of the vast Platte and Kansas river c...

Exmouth, Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Exmouth, Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount pəlyo͞oˈ, ĕkˈsməth [key], 1757–1833, English admiral. He entered the navy in 1770 and served in both the American Revolutionary War and the subsequent Brit...

Tompkins, Daniel D.

(Encyclopedia)Tompkins, Daniel D., 1774–1825, American political figure, Vice President of the United States (1817–25), b. Scarsdale, N.Y. A leader of the Jeffersonian group in New York state, he was elected to...

Wise, Henry Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Wise, Henry Alexander, 1806–76, American political leader and Confederate general in the Civil War, b. Accomac, Va. A lawyer, he was successively a Jackson Democrat, a Whig, and a Tyler Democrat in ...

Tewodros II

(Encyclopedia)Tewodros II or Theodore II, 1818–68, emperor of Ethiopia (1855–68), originally named Kasa or Lij Kasa. He was a commoner and a bold and clever warrior. He seized control of his native province, Ka...

Bibescu

(Encyclopedia)Bibescu –kô [key], Romanian noble family. A prominent member was George Bibescu, 1804–73, prince of Walachia (1842–48). The first to be elected to his post, he effected important financial refo...