Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Whig party, one of the two major political parties of the United States in the second quarter of the 19th cent. By the time Fillmore had succeeded to the presidency, the disintegration of the party ...

(Encyclopedia) Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822–1903, American landscape architect and writer, b. Hartford, Conn. Although his Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England had appeared in 1852, Olmsted first attai...

(Encyclopedia) Laffite, Jean zhäN läfētˈ [key], c.1780–1826?, leader of a band of privateers and smugglers. The name is often spelled Lafitte. He and his men began operating (1810) off the Baratarian coast S o...

(Encyclopedia) Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 1821–77, Confederate general, b. Bedford co., Tenn. (his birthplace is now in Marshall co.). At the beginning of the Civil War, Forrest, a wealthy citizen of Memphis, organi...

(Encyclopedia)  Ward, Douglas Turner, 1930-2021, African-American actor, director, and playwright, b. Burnside, La., as Roosevelt Ward Jr. Ward’s family ...

(Encyclopedia) Delany, Samuel R. (Samuel Ray Delany, Jr.), 1942–, African-American wrtier, b. Harlem, New York City. Delany uses science fiction, fantasy, and memoir to explore sexual identity, race, language, and...

(Encyclopedia) Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from...

(Encyclopedia) Bowers, Claude Gernade zhərnädˈ bouˈərz [key], 1878–1958, American journalist, historian, and diplomat, b. Hamilton co., Ind. After serving as editor of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (1917–2...

(Encyclopedia) impeachment, in Great Britain and United States, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is somet...

(Encyclopedia) Pearl, river, 485 mi (781 km) long, rising in E Miss. and flowing S to Lake Borgne, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico; its lower section (116 mi/187 km) forms the Miss.-La. boundary. Above Jackson, Miss....