Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Locke, John lŏk [key], 1632–1704, English philosopher, founder of British empiricism. Locke summed up the Enlightenment in his belief in the middle class and its right to freedom of conscience and ...

(Encyclopedia)  Supreme Court Justices(including dates on bench) Chief Justices Associate Justices ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Minnesota mĭnˌĭsōˈtə [key], upper midwestern state of the United States. It is bordered by Lake Superior and Wisconsin (E), Iowa (S), South Dakota and North Dakota (W), and the Canadian p...

(Encyclopedia) Abu Ghraib or Abu Ghurayb äˈbo͞o grĕb [key], infamous prison located in the town of Abu Ghraib, c.20 mi (32 km) W of Baghdad, Iraq. Built by British contractors in the 1960s, it occupies c.280 acr...

(Encyclopedia) progressivism, in U.S. history, a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th cent. In the decades following the Civil War rapid industrialization transformed the United St...

(Encyclopedia) tariff, tax on imported and, more rarely, exported goods. It is also called a customs duty. Tariffs may be distinguished from other taxes in that their predominant purpose is not financial but economi...

(Encyclopedia) baroque bərōkˈ [key], in art and architecture, a style developed in Europe, England, and the Americas during the 17th and early 18th cent. The baroque style is characterized by an emphasis on unity...

(Encyclopedia) feminism, movement for the political, social, and educational equality of women with men; the movement has occurred mainly in Europe and the United States. It has its roots in the humanism of the 18th...

(Encyclopedia) electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: “Each State shall appoint, in such Man...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Northwest Territory Northwest Territory, first possession of the United States, comprising the region known as the Old Northwest, S and W of the Great Lakes, NW of the Ohio River, and E of the...