Abigail Adams
(1744–1818),wife of John Adams, from whom she had to be separated for long periods during the Revolution, occasioning her frequent, loving, lively, and outspoken letters. She also engaged in ...
agriculture
The practice of cultivating the soil, growing crops, or raising livestock for human use, including the production of food, feed, fibre, fuel, or other useful products. Also known as farming. See also ...
Albany Congress
(1754)A congress of seven colonies convened by the British Board of Trade at Albany, a town in New York State, to concert defence against the French and pacify the Iroquois. It was at Albany that ...
American Revolution
When Great Britain virtually eliminated the French from North America with the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years' War, it was expected that one of the major benefits ...
Anne Bradstreet
(c. 1612–72),American poet, born in England, emigrated to Massachusetts. Her volume of poems The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America was published in London in 1650 without her knowledge. Her work ...
Anne Hutchinson
(1591–1643),emigrated from England to Massachusetts (1634), where her vigorous intellect soon led her to hold informal weekly meetings of women, in which she discussed the sermons of the previous ...
Articles of Confederation
On 7 June 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved in the Second Continental Congress that the thirteen American colonies declare their independence from Great Britain, and that Congress establish ...
Bacon's Rebellion
(1676)An uprising in Virginia, North America, led by an English immigrant, Nathaniel Bacon. Dissident county leaders and landless ex-servants followed his opposition to the governor, Sir William ...
Bartram, John (1699–1777), botanist, father of William (1739–1823)
Naturalist.Born on a farm near Darby, Pennsylvania, John Bartram spent most of his adult life on his farm at Kingsessing, four miles from Philadelphia. By 1730 his interest in ...
Bay Psalm Book
(1640)The first book printed in the American colonies. This metrical version of the Psalms for the churches in Massachusetts was designed to replace that of Sternhold and Hopkins. It ...
Benjamin Franklin
(1706–90)Although Franklin's distinction rests on his work as a scientist and statesman, his homely moral and political philosophy, particularly as expounded in Poor Richard's Almanack (1733–58), has ...
Bill of Rights
(1791)The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the USA. The constitutional arrangements of 1787 were assumed to guarantee human and civil rights, but omission of specific rights led to ...
birth
Syn: parturition. Delivery of an infant capable of independent existence, an event that occurs naturally when the cervix is fully dilated, at which stage the uterine, abdominal, and pelvic muscles ...
birth control
Any method that is used to reduce births, including celibacy, delayed marriage, contraception, and sterilization. See also family planning.
Boston
The state capital of Massachusetts, USA, on Boston Bay. Founded c.1630 as the principal settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Company, Boston was an early centre of New England Puritanism. Faneuil Hall ...
Boston Massacre
1770.The ‘massacre’ resulted from the clash between British troops, who fired without orders, and an urban crowd, on 5 March 1770 in Boston (Mass.). Three persons were killed. Its propaganda value ...
brewing
The process by which beer is made. Fermentation of sugars from barley grain by the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. uvarum (or S. carlsbergenesis) produces alcohol (ethanol). In the first stage ...
British Americans.
British Americans (including the English, Scots, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish) began to settle North America permanently in 1607. They dominated immigration in the Colonial Era, bringing with them the ...
Captivity Narrative
Account of kidnapping by Indians of white persons, usually women, taken by long journeys into the wilderness. The tale of Mary Rowlandson (1682), the earliest example, is representative of New ...
chemical Industry
The most significant concentration of chemical manufacturing activity in Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries was oriented towards supplying the linen industry with chemicals for finishing and ...
