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Papineau, Louis Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Papineau, Louis Joseph lwē zhôsĕfˈ päpēnōˈ [key], 1786–1871, French Canadian political leader and insurgent, b. Montreal. After serving as an officer in the War of 1812, he entered (1814) th...

committee

(Encyclopedia)committee, one or more persons appointed or elected to consider, report on, or take action on a particular matter. Because of the advantages of a division of labor, legislative committees of various k...

Huntington, Lucius Seth

(Encyclopedia)Huntington, Lucius Seth, 1827–86, Canadian politician, b. Quebec prov. A lawyer, he served in the Legislative Assembly and in its successor, the House of Commons, from 1861 to 1882. In 1873, he laun...

Constitution of the United States

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Constitution of the United States, document embodying the fundamental principles upon which the American republic is conducted. Drawn up at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787...

Tonga

(Encyclopedia)Tonga tŏngˈgə [key], officially Kingdom of Tonga, island kingdom (2015 est. pop. 106,000), 270 sq mi (699 sq km), South Pacific, c.2000 mi (3,220 km) NE of Sydney, Australia. Tonga is the only surv...

Congressional Black Caucus

(Encyclopedia)Congressional Black Caucus, organization of African-American members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Founded in 1970, it addresses legislative concerns of African Americans and other minority ci...

Fletcher v. Peck

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher v. Peck, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1810, involving the Yazoo land fraud. The court ruled that an act of the Georgia legislature rescinding a land grant was unconstitutional be...

Mercier, Honoré

(Encyclopedia)Mercier, Honoré ōnôrāˈ mĕrsyāˈ [key], 1840–94, Canadian political leader, b. Quebec prov. Opposing confederation (1867) on the ground that unification of the Canadian provinces would imperil...

Folketing

(Encyclopedia)Folketing fôlˈkətĭng [key], national parliament of Denmark. Formerly the lower house of the bicameral Rigsdag, it became the sole parliamentary body in 1953. It shares legislative power with the m...

Hepburn, Alonzo Barton

(Encyclopedia)Hepburn, Alonzo Barton, 1846–1922, American legislator and banker, b. Colton, St. Lawrence co., N.Y. He served (1875–80) in the New York state legislature and became chairman of the legislative co...
 

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