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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...

Dominicans

(Encyclopedia)Dominicans dəmĭnˈĭkənz [key], Roman Catholic religious order, founded by St. Dominic in 1216, officially named the Order of Preachers (O.P.). Although they began locally in evangelizing the Albig...

executive

(Encyclopedia)executive, one who carries out the will or plan of another person or of a group. In government, the term refers not only to the chief administrative officer but to all others who execute the laws and ...

Erechtheum

(Encyclopedia)Erechtheum ĭrĕkˈthēəm [key] [for Erechtheus], Gr. Erechtheion, temple in Pentelic marble, on the Acropolis at Athens. One of the masterpieces of Greek architecture, it was constructed between c.4...

Germain, George Sackville, 1st Viscount Sackville

(Encyclopedia)Germain, George Sackville, 1st Viscount Sackville jûrˈmən, –mān [key], 1716–85, British soldier and statesman. He was known as Lord George Sackville until 1770, when under the terms of a will ...

Gates, Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Gates, Horatio, c.1727–1806, American Revolutionary general, b. Maldon, Essex, England. Entering the British army at an early age, he fought in America in the French and Indian War and served in the...

Northern Pacific Railway

(Encyclopedia)Northern Pacific Railway, former American rail line, following the northern route from Duluth and St. Paul, Minn., to Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Oreg. The Northern Pacific RR Company was chartered ...

Marquette, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Marquette, Jacques zhäk märkĕtˈ [key], 1637–75, French missionary and explorer in North America, a Jesuit priest. He was sent to New France in 1666 and studied Native American languages under a ...

Missouri River basin project

(Encyclopedia)Missouri River basin project, comprehensive plan authorized in 1944 for the coordinated development of water resources of the Missouri River and its tributaries, draining an area of c.513,300 sq mi (1...

liquor laws

(Encyclopedia)liquor laws, legislation designed to restrict, regulate, or totally abolish the manufacture, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages. The passage of liquor laws has been prompted chiefly by the desire to...