Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Federalist party

(Encyclopedia)Federalist party, in U.S. history, the political faction that favored a strong federal government. Opposition to war brought the Federalists the support of Clinton and many others, and the party mad...

Continental System

(Encyclopedia)Continental System, scheme of action adopted by Napoleon I in his economic warfare with England from 1806 to 1812. Economic warfare had been carried on before 1806, but the system itself was initiated...

Carter, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Elizabeth, 1717–1806, English poet and translator. Under the pen name Eliza she contributed for years to the Gentleman's Magazine. One of the group of 18th-century women known as the bluesto...

Benedict the Black, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Benedict the Black, Saint, d. 1589, Sicilian friar. Born a slave, he became a hermit and later a Franciscan lay brother. Although illiterate, his humility and extraordinary powers as spiritual directo...

Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie

(Encyclopedia)Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie zhäN ātyĕnˈ märēˈ pôrtälēsˈ [key], 1746–1807, French statesman and lawyer. A moderate, he was suspected of royalist sympathies during the French Revolution b...

Bibb, William Wyatt

(Encyclopedia)Bibb, William Wyatt, 1781–1820, first governor of Alabama (1817–20), b. Amelia co., Va. Graduated in medicine from the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1801), he began practice in Petersburg, Ga. He was a s...

Quincy, Josiah, 1772–1864, American political leader and college president

(Encyclopedia)Quincy, Josiah, 1772–1864, American political leader and college president, b. Braintree, Mass.; son of Josiah Quincy (1744–75). After studying law, Quincy became interested in politics and entere...

Pravdinsk

(Encyclopedia)Pravdinsk frētˈlänt [key], town, NW European Russia, formerly in East Prussia. In 1807 the city was the scene of a battle in which Napoleon I defeated the Russians, thus precipitating the fall of K...

Bailey, Gamaliel

(Encyclopedia)Bailey, Gamaliel, 1807–59, American abolitionist editor, b. Mt. Holly, N.J. In 1837 he succeeded James Birney as editor and publisher of the Philanthropist at Cincinnati. Three times his office was ...

National Labor Relations Board

(Encyclopedia)National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), independent agency of the U.S. government created under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), and amended by the acts of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Labo...