Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Parker, Alton Brooks, 1852–1926, American jurist, U.S. presidential candidate (1904), b. Cortland, N.Y. He practiced law in Kingston, N.Y., and was (1877–85) surrogate of Ulster co., N.Y. He becam...

(Encyclopedia) Morazán, Francisco fränsēsˈkō mōräsänˈ [key], 1799–1842, Central American statesman, b. Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He led the revolutionary army that overthrew (1829) the regime of Manuel José...

(Encyclopedia) Greenback party, in U.S. history, political organization formed in the years 1874–76 to promote currency expansion. The members were principally farmers of the West and the South; stricken by the Pa...

(Encyclopedia) House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a committee (1938–75) of the U.S. House of Representatives, created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin ...

(Encyclopedia) unemployment insurance, insurance against loss of wages during the time that an able-bodied worker is involuntarily unemployed. The goal of such insurance is to provide a minimal livelihood to unemplo...

(Encyclopedia) Marcantonio, Vito vēˈtō märkăntōˈnēō [key], 1902–54, American politician, b. New York City. After the age of 18 he was active in community affairs in the Harlem section of New York City. He...

(Encyclopedia) academies of art, official organizations of established artists. Lorenzo de' Medici's informal circle of great artists and thinkers was modeled on similar groups formed in classical Greece. The first ...

(Encyclopedia) direct action, theory and methods used by certain labor groups to fight employers, capitalist institutions, and the state by direct economic action, without using intermediate organizations. Political...

(Encyclopedia) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), accord establishing a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. NAF...

(Encyclopedia) Leopold II, 1835–1909, king of the Belgians (1865–1909), son and successor of Leopold I. His reign saw great industrial and colonial expansion. In 1876 he organized, with the help of H. M. Stanley...