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vigilantes

(Encyclopedia)vigilantes vĭjĭlănˈtēz [key], members of a vigilance committee. Such committees were formed in U.S. frontier communities to enforce law and order before a regularly constituted government could b...

Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe

(Encyclopedia)Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe, 1807–90, Mexican-American political and military leader, b. Monterey, Calif. He entered the Mexican military in 1824 and was appointed to the territorial legislature in 1...

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway

(Encyclopedia)Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, railroad system in much of the United States (except the Northeast) and in S Canada, created in 1995 from the merger of Burlington Northern Inc. and the Santa Fe ...

California

(Encyclopedia)CE5 California kălˌĭfôrˈnyə [key], most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), a...

Gil de Taboada y de Lemos, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Gil de Taboada y de Lemos, Francisco fränthēsˈkō hēl dā täbōäˈᵺä ē ᵺā lāˈmōs [key], d. 1809, Spanish colonial administrator. After serving as viceroy of New Granada (1789), he was ...

Carondelet, Francisco Luis Hector, baron de

(Encyclopedia)Carondelet, Francisco Luis Hector, baron de fränthēsˈkō lo͞oēsˈ ĕktôrˈ bärōnˈ dā kärōndālĕtˈ [key], c.1748–1807, governor of Louisiana (1791–97) and West Florida (1791–95), b....

Johnson, Hiram Warren

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Hiram Warren, 1866–1945, American political leader, U.S. Senator from California (1917–45), b. Sacramento, Calif. His role as attorney in the successful prosecution of Abe Ruef, political...

Harris, Kamala Devi

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Kamala Devi käˈmələ dāˈvē [key], 1964–, Vice President of the United States (2021–), b. Oakland, Calif., B.A. Howard Univ., 1986, J.D. Univ. of California, Hastings, 1989. The child...

Gunn, Thom

(Encyclopedia)Gunn, Thom (Thomson William Gunn), 1929–2004, Anglo-American poet, b. Gravesend, Kent, England, grad. Trinity College, Cambridge (1953). Gunn published his first volume of poems, the critically accl...

Geary, John White

(Encyclopedia)Geary, John White gērˈē [key], 1819–73, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Mt. Pleasant, Pa. In San Francisco from 1849 to 1852, Geary was the first U.S. postmaster, the l...