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Congress of the United States
Congress of the United States the legislative branch of the federal government, instituted (1789) by Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States , which prescribes its membership and defines its powers. Congress is composed of two houses—the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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John Bartlett
John Bartlett 1820-1905, American compiler and publisher, b. Plymouth, Mass. While he worked in his university book store in Cambridge, he compiled the invaluable Familiar Quotations (1855), which ran through nine editions in his lifetime and has been revised and enlarged several times since. Bar...
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Sir George Biddell Airy
Sir George Biddell Airy 1801-92, English astronomer. The son of a poor farmer, he distinguished himself as Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, where he was elected fellow of Trinity College (1824) and appointed professor (1826). As Astronomer Royal and director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory from 183...
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Albert of Brandenburg
Albert of Brandenburg 1490-1568, grand master of the Teutonic Knights (1511-25), first duke of Prussia (1525-68); grandson of Elector Albert Achilles of Brandenburg. In 1525 he became a Protestant, and on the advice of Martin Luther he secularized the dominions of the Teutonic Knights and becam...
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An Najaf
An Najaf , city (1987 pop. 309,010), S central Iraq, on a lake near the Euphrates River. The city, one of Shi'a Islam's holiest, is also called Mashad Ali, after the tomb (in a mosque) of Ali , son-in-law of Muhammad the Prophet. The tomb is an object of pilgrimage by Shiite Muslims and a starting ...
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Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong 1941-, prime minister of Singapore (1990-2004). After holding government and business positions, he was elected to Singapore's parliament in 1976 and served in the cabinet and People's Action party leadership from 1979. In 1985 he became minister of defense and deputy prime minister...
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) served in both houses of Congress before becoming the thirty-fifth president of the United States. His assassination shocked the world.
John F. Kennedy once summed up his time as "very dangerous, untidy." He was the child of two wor...
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Wittelsbach
Wittelsbach , German dynasty that ruled Bavaria from 1180 until 1918.
The family takes its name from the ancestral castle of Wittelsbach in Upper Bavaria. In 1180 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I invested Count Otto of Wittelsbach with the much-reduced duchy of Bavaria , of which he had deprived...
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age grade and age set
age grade and age set differentiation of social role based on age, commonly found in small-scale societies of North America and East Africa. Age sets are a type of sodality (nonresidential groups that cut across kinship ties and thus promote broader social solidarity) of young men who usually coope...
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Borgia
Borgia , Span. Borja , Spanish-Italian noble family, originally from Aragón. When Alfonso de Borja, cardinal-archbishop of Valencia, was pope as Calixtus III (1455-58), several relatives followed him to Rome. His nephew Rodrigo became pope as Alexander VI , and Rodrigo's illegitimate childr...
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