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school vouchers

(Encyclopedia)school vouchers, government grants aimed at improving education for the children of low-income families by providing school tuition that can be used at public or private schools. The idea behind schoo...

Thomson, Virgil

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Virgil, 1896–1989, American composer, critic, and organist, b. Kansas City, Mo. Thomson studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Until about 1926 he wrote in a dissonant, neoclassic style, bu...

Angel Island

(Encyclopedia)Angel Island, largest island in San Francisco Bay, W Calif. Explored by the Spanish in 1775, it came under U.S. control in 1851. The U.S. army used the island as a base from 1863 to 1946, and from 195...

Palmer, Alice Freeman

(Encyclopedia)Palmer, Alice Freeman, 1855–1902, American educator, b. Broome co., N.Y., grad. Univ. of Michigan, 1876. She was one of the leading early proponents of higher education for women in the United State...

Proctor, Redfield

(Encyclopedia)Proctor, Redfield, 1831–1908, American industrialist and political leader, b. Proctorsville, Vt. He studied law, practiced in Boston, and served in the Union army in the Civil War. After he returned...

Pennsylvania, University of

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania, University of, in Philadelphia; private with some state support; coeducational. It dates to 1740 and plans for a charity school, and the first predecessor opened in 1751 as an academy, l...

boycott

(Encyclopedia)boycott, concerted economic or social ostracism of an individual, group, or nation to express disapproval or coerce change. The practice was named (1880) after Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Eng...

Clinton, George, vice president of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Clinton, George, 1739–1812, American statesman, vice president of the United States (1805–1812), b. Little Britain, N.Y. Before he was 20 he served on a privateer and, in the French and Indian War...

pardon

(Encyclopedia)pardon, in law, exemption from punishment for a criminal conviction granted by the grace of the executive of a government. A general pardon to a class of persons guilty of the same offense (e.g., insu...
 

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