Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Crump, Edward Hull

(Encyclopedia)Crump, Edward Hull, 1876–1954, American politician, Democratic boss of Tennessee, b. near Holly Springs, Miss. At first (1905–9) a municipal administrator in Memphis, Tenn., he was later mayor (19...

civil service

(Encyclopedia)civil service, entire body of those employed in the civil administration as distinct from the military and excluding elected officials. The term was used in designating the British administration of I...

bank holidays

(Encyclopedia)bank holidays, days when the law requires that banks be closed. In the United States the list varies from state to state but generally includes, besides the major holidays, many days that are observed...

Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

Medvedev, Dmitri Anatolyevich

(Encyclopedia)Medvedev, Dmitri Anatolyevich mĕdvyĕdˈyĕf [key], 1965–, Russian political leader, president of Russia (2008–12), b. Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He earned a doctorate in law in 1990 and was...

Lumbee

(Encyclopedia)Lumbee, descendants of Native Americans whose language belonged to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The ancestors of the Lumbee occupi...

Dole, Sanford Ballard

(Encyclopedia)Dole, Sanford Ballard, 1844–1926, Hawaiian statesman, b. Honolulu, of American missionary parents. After education in the United States he returned to Hawaii and became prominent in public life. A l...

Wisconsin v. Yoder

(Encyclopedia)Wisconsin v. Yoder, case decided in 1972 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that Amish children could be exempted from compulsory school-attendance beyond the 8th grade; the Amish (see under Mennon...

Fraser, Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Malcolm (John Malcolm Fraser), 1930–2015, Australian political leader and prime minister (1975–83). A graduate of Oxford (1952), he entered the Australian parliament as a Liberal member in...

sovereignty

(Encyclopedia)sovereignty, supreme authority in a political community. The concept of sovereignty has had a long history of development, and it may be said that every political theorist since Plato has dealt with t...
 

Browse by Subject