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term limits

(Encyclopedia)term limits, statutory limitations placed on the number of terms officeholders may serve. Focusing especially on members of the U.S. Congress, term limits became an important national political issue ...

United States

(Encyclopedia) CE5 CE5 CE5 United States, officially United States of America, republic (2015 est. pop. 319,929,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third l...

Dutch West India Company

(Encyclopedia)Dutch West India Company, trading and colonizing company, chartered by the States-General of the Dutch republic in 1621 and organized in 1623. Through its agency New Netherland was founded. The phenom...

Permian Basin

(Encyclopedia)Permian Basin or West Texas Basin, extensive sedimentary basin, West Texas and SE New Mexico. Covering an area of more than 75,000 sq mi (194,000 sq km), its main components are the Midland Basin on t...

corporal punishment

(Encyclopedia)corporal punishment, physical chastisement of an offender. At one extreme it includes the death penalty (see capital punishment), but the term usually refers to punishments like flogging, caning, muti...

Leiden, University of

(Encyclopedia)Leiden, University of, at Leiden, the Netherlands; founded 1575 by William the Silent, Prince of Orange. It became a state institution in the 19th cent. It has faculties of theology, law, medicine, sc...

Montpelier, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Montpelier mŏntpēlˈyər [key], city (1990 pop. 8,247), state capital (since 1805) and seat of Washington co., central Vt., at the junction of the Winooski and North Branch rivers; inc. 1855. The ec...

Shan State

(Encyclopedia)Shan State shän [key], state (1983 pop. 3,718,706), c.60,000 sq mi (155,400 sq km), E central Myanmar. Taunggyi, the capital, and Lashio are its principal cities. It borders on China in the north, La...

Constitutional Convention

(Encyclopedia)Constitutional Convention, in U.S. history, the 1787 meeting in which the Constitution of the United States was drawn up. The convention at Philadelphia drew up one of the most influential document...

Ithaca, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Ithaca ĭthˈəkə [key], city (2020 pop. 32,108), seat of Tompkins co., S central N.Y., at t...
 

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