Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) public land, in U.S. history, land owned by the federal government but not reserved for any special purpose, e.g., for a park or a military reservation. Public land is also called land in the public d...

(Encyclopedia) Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803–6, U.S. expedition that explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the country beyond as far as the Pacific Ocean. The men were gathered and in the winte...

(Encyclopedia) civil law, as used in this article, a modern legal system based upon Roman law, as distinguished from common law. Civil law is based on written legal codes, a hallmark of the Roman legal system, in wh...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Missouri mĭzo͝orˈē, –ə [key], one of the midwestern states of the United States. It is bordered by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, across the Mississippi River (E), Arkansas (S), Okla...

(Encyclopedia) Law, John, 1671–1729, Scottish financier in France, b. Edinburgh. After killing a man in a duel (1694) he fled to Amsterdam, where he studied banking. Returning to Scotland (1700), he proposed to Pa...

(Encyclopedia) Missouri Compromise, 1820–21, measures passed by the U.S. Congress to end the first of a series of crises concerning the extension of slavery. By 1818, Missouri Territory had gained sufficient popul...

(Encyclopedia) Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel pyĕr sämüĕlˈ dü pôN də nəmo͞orˈ [key], 1739–1817, French economist, one of the physiocrats. Early in his career he attracted the attention of François Q...

(Encyclopedia) boll weevil or cotton boll weevil bōl [key], cotton-eating weevil, or snout beetle, Anthonomus grandis. Probably of Mexican or Central American origin, it appeared in Texas about 1892 and spread to m...

(Encyclopedia) Bragg, Braxton, 1817–76, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War, b. Warrenton, N.C. A graduate of West Point, he fought the Seminole and in the Mexican War was promoted to lieutenant colonel for ...