Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

National Guard

(Encyclopedia)National Guard, U.S. militia. The militia is authorized by the Constitution of the United States, which also defines the militia's functions and the federal and state role. Article 1, Section 8 provid...

press, freedom of the

(Encyclopedia)press, freedom of the, liberty to print or to otherwise disseminate information, as in print, by broadcasting, or through electronic media, without prior restraints such as licensing requirements or c...

Lambeth Conference

(Encyclopedia)Lambeth Conference, convocation at Lambeth Palace, London, that brings together all the bishops in the Anglican Communion. It meets about every 10 years at the invitation of the archbishop of Canterbu...

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.

(Encyclopedia)Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. Linda Brown was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka because she was black. When, com...

Paul, Alice

(Encyclopedia)Paul, Alice, 1885–1977, American feminist, b. Moorestown, N.J. She helped found the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (1913), which became the National Woman's party (1917). After the passage o...

Alabama, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Alabama ăləbămˈə [key], state in the SE United States. It is bordered by Tennessee (N), Georgia (E), Florida and the Gulf of Mexico (S), and Mississippi (W). In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Co...

Volstead, Andrew Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Volstead, Andrew Joseph vŏlˈstĕd [key], 1860–1947, American legislator, b. Goodhue co., Minn. A lawyer, he held several local offices in Minnesota before serving (1903–23) in the U.S. House of ...

Bayh, Birch Evans, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Bayh, Birch Evans, Jr. bī [key], 1928–2019, U.S. politician, b. Terre Haute, Ind., grad. Indiana Univ. law school (1960). A Democrat, Bayh served (1954–62) in the Indiana legislature, then (1963�...

Wilmot Proviso

(Encyclopedia)Wilmot Proviso, 1846, amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territ...

Chase, Salmon Portland

(Encyclopedia)Chase, Salmon Portland, 1808–73, American public official and jurist, 6th chief justice of the United States (1864–73), b. Cornish, N.H. Admitted to the bar in 1829, he defended runaway blacks so ...