Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

fair-trade laws

(Encyclopedia)fair-trade laws, in the United States, a former group of statutes that permitted manufacturers to specify the minimum retail price of a commodity. The first fair-trade law was adopted (1931) by Califo...

Logan, George

(Encyclopedia)Logan, George lōˈgən [key], 1753–1821, American political figure and agriculturist, b. near Germantown (now part of Philadelphia), grandson of James Logan. After obtaining a medical degree abroad...

Indian Affairs, Bureau of

(Encyclopedia)Indian Affairs, Bureau of, created (1824) in the U.S. War Dept. and transferred (1849) to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. The War Dept. managed Native American affairs after 1789, but a separate burea...

ligand

(Encyclopedia)ligand lĭgˈənd [key], charged or uncharged molecule with one or more unshared pairs of electrons that can attach to a central metallic atom or ion to form an aggregate known as a complex ion (see c...

Yazoo land fraud

(Encyclopedia)Yazoo land fraud, name given to the sale in 1795 by an act of the Georgia legislature of vast holdings in the Yazoo River country to four land companies following the wholesale bribery of the legislat...

boycott

(Encyclopedia)boycott, concerted economic or social ostracism of an individual, group, or nation to express disapproval or coerce change. The practice was named (1880) after Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Eng...

subtreasury

(Encyclopedia)subtreasury. After President Andrew Jackson vetoed (July 10, 1832) the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, the deposits were removed and placed in state banks that came to be calle...

Inverness-shire

(Encyclopedia)Inverness-shire or Inverness, former county, NW Scotland. Under the Local Government Act of 1973, Inverness-shire was divided in 1975 between the new Highland region and Western Isles island authority...

agricultural subsidies

(Encyclopedia)agricultural subsidies, financial assistance to farmers through government-sponsored price-support programs. Beginning in the 1930s most industrialized countries developed agricultural price-support p...

adult education

(Encyclopedia)adult education, extension of educational opportunities to those adults beyond the age of general public education who feel a need for further training of any sort, also known as continuing education....