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depression, in economics

(Encyclopedia)depression, in economics, period of economic crisis in commerce, finance, and industry, characterized by falling prices, restriction of credit, low output and investment, numerous bankruptcies, and a ...

Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st earl of Beaconsfield

(Encyclopedia)Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st earl of Beaconsfield dĭzrāˈlē [key], 1804–81, British statesman and author. He is regarded as the founder of the modern Conservative party. Disraeli succeeded the earl ...

credit card

(Encyclopedia)credit card, device used to obtain consumer credit at the time of purchasing an article or service. Credit cards may be issued by a business, such as a department store or an oil company, to make it e...

recycling

(Encyclopedia)recycling, the process of recovering and reusing waste products—from household use, manufacturing, agriculture, and business—and thereby reducing their burden on the environment. During World War ...

Union Pacific Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Paci...

Catholic Emancipation

(Encyclopedia)Catholic Emancipation, term applied to the process by which Roman Catholics in the British Isles were relieved in the late 18th and early 19th cent. of civil disabilities. They had been under oppressi...

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...

Monroe, James

(Encyclopedia)Monroe, James, 1758–1831, 5th President of the United States (1817–25), b. Westmoreland co., Va. In 1816 Monroe obtained the presidential nomination and was easily elected. During his first admi...

reclamation of land

(Encyclopedia)reclamation of land, practice of converting land deemed unproductive into arable land by such methods as irrigation, drainage, flood control, altering the texture and mineral and organic content of so...

Adams, John Quincy

(Encyclopedia)Adams, John Quincy, 1767–1848, 6th President of the United States (1825–29), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass.; son of John Adams and Abigail Adams and father of Charles Francis Adams (1807–8...