Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

free will

(Encyclopedia)free will, in philosophy, the doctrine that an individual, regardless of forces external to him, can and does choose at least some of his actions. The existence of free will is challenged by determini...

Federal Trade Commission

(Encyclopedia)Federal Trade Commission (FTC), independent agency of the U.S. government established in 1915 and charged with keeping American business competition free and fair. The FTC has no jurisdiction over ban...

Russian American Company

(Encyclopedia)Russian American Company, colonial trading company, chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the merchant-dominated company monopoly trading privileges in Russian America, which included ...

free silver

(Encyclopedia)free silver, in U.S. history, term designating the political movement for the unlimited coinage of silver. In 1896 free silver became the major issue of a presidential campaign when William Jennings...

American Fur Company

(Encyclopedia)American Fur Company, chartered by John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) in 1808 to compete with the great fur-trading companies in Canada—the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Astor's most ...

North Macedonia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 North Macedonia măsˌədōˈnēə [key], Macedonian Severna Makedonija, officially Republic of North Macedonia, republic (2015 est. pop. 2,079,000), 9,930 sq mi (25,720 sq km), SE Europe. It i...

protection

(Encyclopedia)protection, practice of regulating imports and exports with the purpose of shielding domestic industries from foreign competition. To accomplish that end, certain imports may be excluded entirely, imp...

Bentsen, Lloyd Millard, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Bentsen, Lloyd Millard, Jr., 1921–2006, American political leader and U.S. secretary of the treasury (1993–94), b. Mission, Tex. He received a law degree from the Univ. of Texas in 1942 and served...

trade association

(Encyclopedia)trade association, group of business people in the same trade or industry organized for the advancement of common interests. The trade association differs from the chamber of commerce in that membersh...

trade rat

(Encyclopedia)trade rat: see pack rat.