Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Friends, Religious Society of, religious body originating in England in the middle of the 17th cent. under George Fox. The members are commonly called Quakers, originally a term of derision. The org...

(Encyclopedia) Democratic party, American political party; the oldest continuous political party in the United States. In 1960, John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon, in the ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Arkansas ärˈkənsôˌ, ärkănˈzŭs [key], state in the south-central United States. It is bordered by Tennessee and Mississippi, across the Mississippi River (E), Louisiana (S), Texas and O...

(Encyclopedia) organized crime, criminal activities organized and coordinated on a national scale, often with international connections. The American tradition of daring desperadoes like Jesse James and John Dilling...

(Encyclopedia) pacifism, advocacy of opposition to war through individual or collective action against militarism. Although complete, enduring peace is the goal of all pacifism, the methods of achieving it differ. S...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Mauritius môrĭshˈēəs, –əs [key], officially Republic of Mauritius, republic (2015 est. pop. 1,259,000), 790 sq mi (2,046 sq km), in the SW Indian Ocean. It is part of the Mascarene Isla...

(Encyclopedia) Clay, Henry, 1777–1852, American statesman, b. Hanover co., Va. In 1828, Clay again supported Adams for President, and Jackson's success bitterly disappointed him. Although he intended to retir...

(Encyclopedia) cotton, most important of the vegetable fibers, and the plant from which the fiber is harvested. Today the leading cotton states are Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Louisi...

(Encyclopedia) woman suffrage, the right of women to vote. Throughout the latter part of the 19th cent. the issue of women's voting rights was an important phase of feminism. On the European mainland, Finland (1...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Suriname so͝orĭnämˈ, –nămˈ [key], officially Republic of Suriname, republic (2015 est. pop. 553,000), 63,037 sq mi (163,266 sq km), NE South America, on the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the ...