Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Iowa, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Iowa, river, 329 mi (529 km) long, rising in the lakes of N Iowa and flowing SE to the Mississippi River, SE Iowa; Cedar River (300 mi/483 km long) is its chief tributary. A power dam crosses the gorg...

Franklin, State of

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, State of, government (1784–88) formed by the inhabitants of Washington, Sullivan, and Greene counties in present-day E Tennessee after North Carolina ceded (June, 1784) its western lands t...

Wisconsin, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Wisconsin, river, c.430 mi (690 km) long, rising in the lake district, NE Wis., and flowing generally SW across central Wis. to the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien. At Portage it is connected ...

Minnesota, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Minnesota, river, 332 mi (534 km) long, rising in Big Stone Lake at the W boundary of Minnesota and flowing SE to Mankato, then NE to the Mississippi S of Minneapolis. Earlier called the St. Peter or ...

Foote, Henry Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Foote, Henry Stuart, 1804–80, U.S. senator (1847–52) and governor of Mississippi (1852–54), b. Fauquier co., Va. An able criminal lawyer, he practiced in several different states. In the U.S. Se...

gambling

(Encyclopedia)gambling or gaming, betting of money or valuables on, and often participation in, games of chance (some involving degrees of skill). In England and in the United States, gambling was not a common-law ...

Missouri, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Missouri, river, c.2,565 mi (4,130 km) long (including its Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock headstream), the longest river of the United States and the principal tributary of the Mississippi River. The l...

William and Mary in Virginia, College of

(Encyclopedia)William and Mary in Virginia, College of, mainly at Williamsburg; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1693, opened 1694 by Episcopalians under James Blair. It became a university in 1779. The se...

Wharton, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Wharton, Francis, 1820–89, American clergyman and lawyer, b. Philadelphia, grad. Yale, 1839. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1843, he became an authority on criminal law and wrote A Treatise on ...

territory

(Encyclopedia)territory, in U.S. history, a portion of the national domain that is given limited self-government, usually in preparation for statehood. Territorial governments have been similar in form to those of ...
 

Browse by Subject