Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

manslaughter

(Encyclopedia)manslaughter, homicide committed without justification or excuse but distinguished from murder by the absence of the element of malice aforethought. Modern criminal statutes usually divide it into deg...

progressivism

(Encyclopedia)progressivism, in U.S. history, a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th cent. In the decades following the Civil War rapid industrialization transformed the United St...

banking

(Encyclopedia)banking, primarily the business of dealing in money and instruments of credit. Banks were traditionally differentiated from other financial institutions by their principal functions of accepting depos...

Hepburn, William Peters

(Encyclopedia)Hepburn, William Peters, 1833–1916, American legislator, b. Wellsville, Ohio. He was raised in Iowa and entered law there. He was a Civil War cavalry officer. From 1881 to 1887 he served as a Republ...

Fletcher, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher, Andrew, 1655–1716, Scottish politician, known as Fletcher of Saltoun. An opponent of the policies of the duke of Lauderdale and the duke of York (later James II) in Scotland, he fled to Ho...

Calamy, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Calamy, Edmund kălˈəmē [key], 1600–1666, English Presbyterian preacher. In 1636 his opposition to the observance of certain church ceremonies forced his withdrawal as lecturer at Bury St. Edmund...

Torrens, Sir Robert Richard

(Encyclopedia)Torrens, Sir Robert Richard tŏrˈənz [key], 1814–84, Australian statesman, b. Ireland. Son of Col. Robert Torrens (1780–1864), one of the founders of South Australia, he went to that colony in 1...

sunshine laws

(Encyclopedia)sunshine laws: see Freedom of Information Act. ...

Otis, James

(Encyclopedia)Otis, James, 1725–83, American colonial political leader, b. Barnstable co., Mass. A lawyer first in Plymouth and then in Boston, he won great distinction and served (1756–61) as advocate general ...

Sutherland

(Encyclopedia)Sutherland or Sutherlandshire, former county, N Scotland. Under the Local Government Act of 1973, Sutherland became (1975) part of the new Highland region (now a council area). ...