Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hall, Lyman, 1724–90, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Wallingford, Conn. He was a Congregational minister for some time before practicing m...

(Encyclopedia) Day, Thomas, 1748–89, English social reformer and author. He supported the American Revolution and the abolition of slavery and was interested in improving the lot of the small farmer. His moralisti...

(Encyclopedia) Duane, William, 1872–1935, American physicist, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard, 1893, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1897. He taught at the Univ. of Colorado (1898–1907), worked at the Curie radium laborat...

(Encyclopedia) Lynch, Thomas, 1749–79, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, known as Thomas Lynch, Jr., b. Prince George Parish, S.C., studied Cambridge and law a...

(Encyclopedia) Delano, Amasa ămˈəsə dĕlˈənō [key], 1763–1823, American sea captain, b. Duxbury, Mass. At 15, he served as a soldier in the American Revolution and later as a privateersman. His experiences ...

(Encyclopedia) Cerré, Jean Gabriel zhäN gäbrēĕlˈ sĕrāˈ [key], 1734–1805, frontiersman and trader in the American Midwest, b. Montreal, Canada. By 1755 he had established a fur-trading post at Kaskaskia, I...

(Encyclopedia) Clymer, George klīˈ mər [key], 1739–1813, American political leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Philadelphia. A prosperous merchant, he ardently supported the colonial cause be...

(Encyclopedia) Connecticut Wits or Hartford Wits, an informal association of Yale students and rectors formed in the late 18th cent. At first they were devoted to the modernization of the Yale curriculum and declari...

(Encyclopedia) Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776...

(Encyclopedia) sloop, fore-and-aft-rigged, single-masted sailing vessel with a single headsail jib. A sloop differs from a cutter in that it has a jibstay—a support leading from the bow to the masthead on which th...