Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Benton, Thomas Hart, 1782–1858, U.S. Senator (1821–51), b. Hillsboro, N.C. Benton moved to Tennessee in 1809, was admitted to the bar in 1811, and served (1809–11) in the state senate. In 1815, ...

(Encyclopedia) Royal Society, oldest scientific organization in Great Britain and one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded in 1660 by a group of learned men in London who met to promote scientific discussion, par...

(Encyclopedia) Russell, English noble family. It first appeared prominently in the reign of Henry VIII when John Russell, 1st earl of Bedford, 1486?–1555, rose to military and diplomatic importance. He was lord hi...

(Encyclopedia) sharecropping, an agricultural system in which a landowner allows a tenant to use their land in return for a share of the crop produced. In the United S...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Supreme Court, United States, highest court of the United States, established by Article 3 of the Constitution of the United States. With the emergence of a working conservative majority,...

(Encyclopedia) Booth, John Wilkes wĭlks [key], 1838–65, American actor, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, b. near Bel Air, Md.; son of Junius Brutus Booth and brother of Edwin Booth. He made his stage debut at the...

(Encyclopedia) Butler, Judith, 1956–, American philosopher and political theorist, b. Cleveland, Ph.D. Yale University, 1984. Holds the Hannah Arendt Chair at The Eu...

(Encyclopedia) Jacksonville. 1 City (1990 pop. 29,101), Pulaski co., central Ark., inc. 1941. The city has varied industries, including printing and publishing and the manufacture of electronic equipment, ordnance, ...

(Encyclopedia) Teutonic Knights or Teutonic Order to͞otŏnˈĭk [key], German military religious order founded (1190–91) during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade. It was originally known as the Order of the ...

(Encyclopedia) Henry IV, 1367–1413, king of England (1399–1413), eldest son of John of Gaunt and grandson of Edward III; called Henry of Bolingbroke. He founded the Lancastrian dynasty. The new king was immed...