1.
United States House of Representatives
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The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the Senate, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the House are established by Article One of the United States Constitution, since its inception in 1789, all representatives are elected popularly. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435, the House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills, which, after concurrence by the Senate, are sent to the President for consideration. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof and is traditionally the leader of the controlling party. He or she and other leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conferences. The House meets in the wing of the United States Capitol. Under the Articles of Confederation, the Congress of the Confederation was a body in which each state was equally represented. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates, the issue of how to structure Congress was one of the most divisive among the founders during the Convention. The House is referred to as the house, with the Senate being the upper house. Both houses approval is necessary for the passage of legislation, the Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, the Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4,1789. The House began work on April 1,1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time, during the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery. The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore dominated the House of Representatives, However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery, One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land gained during the Mexican–American War. Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War, the war culminated in the Souths defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, the years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Unions victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877, the ensuing era, the Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw an increase in the power of the Speaker of the House
2.
Massachusetts
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It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston, over 80% of Massachusetts population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, during the 20th century, Massachusetts economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance. Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, in 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of Americas most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, in 1786, Shays Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, in the late 18th century, Boston became known as the Cradle of Liberty for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, in the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams, both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance, the official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While this designation is part of the official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the position and powers within the United States as other states. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans, the first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, the event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days
3.
Massachusetts's 1st congressional district
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Massachusettss 1st congressional district is located in western and central Massachusetts. The largest Massachusetts district in area, it covers about one-third of the state and is more rural than the rest and it has the states highest point, Mount Greylock. The district includes the cities of Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, Holyoke, the shape of the district underwent some changes effective from the elections of 2012, after Massachusetts congressional redistricting to reflect the 2010 census. The entire Springfield area is included in the new 1st district, richard Neal, a Democrat from Springfield, represents the district. In Hampshire County, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Huntington, Middlefield, Plainfield, South Hadley, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, in Worcester County, Brookfield, Charlton, Dudley, East Brookfield, Southbridge, Sturbridge, and Warren. When the District was created it covered part of eastern Massachusetts, franklin County, Towns of Ashfleld, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Leyden, Monroe, Rowe, and Shelburne. Hampshire County, Towns of Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington, Middlefield, Plainfield, hampden County, City of Holyoke and towns of Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, and Westfield. Hamdpen County, Cities of Holyoke and Westfield, towns of Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, and Tolland. Hampshire County, Towns of Belchertown, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington, Middlefield, Pelham, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, Worcester County, Towns of Athol, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, and Templeton. 1963, Berkshire County, Cities of North Adams and Pittsfield, hampden County, Cities of Holyoke and Westfield. Towns of Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Towns of Amherst, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Pelham, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Worthington. Worcester County, Towns of Athol, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston,1972, Berkshire County, All cities and towns. Hampden County, Cities of Holyoke and Westfield, Towns of Agawam, Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, and West Springfield. Towns of Amherst, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Pelham, Plainfleld, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Worthington. Worcester County, Towns of Athol, Barre, Hardwick, Hubbardston, New Braintree, Oakham, Petersham,1973, Berkshire County, All cities and towns. Franklin County, All towns except Orange, hampden County, Cities of Holyoke and Westfleld. Towns of Agawam, Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, in Middlesex County, Ashby, Pepperell, Townsend. Massachusettss congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Martis, Kenneth C, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress
4.
John W. Heselton
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John Walter Heselton was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from January 3,1945 until January 3,1959. Heselton represented Massachusetts first congressional district for seven consecutive terms, Heselton was born in Gardiner, Maine. He joined the United States Army for World War I, but his October,1918 enlistment came shortly before the end of the war and he graduated from Amherst College and Harvard Law School, and practiced law in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Heselton was active in Deerfield town politics, and was president of the Massachusetts Selectmens Association from 1935 to 1938 and he was the district attorney of the northwestern district of Massachusetts from 1939 to 1944. In 1944 he was elected to Congress, and served until his retirement in 1959, Heselton retired in Vero Beach, Florida, and died on August 19,1962. He is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Gardiner, Maine, biographical Directory of the United States Congress. John W. Heselton at Find a Grave
5.
John Olver
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John Walter Olver is an American politician who was the U. S. Representative for Massachusettss 1st congressional district from 1991 to 2013 and he served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court, being elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1968, and the Massachusetts Senate in 1972. He ran in a 1991 special election to succeed 17-term Congressman Silvio O. Conte and he was the first Democrat to ever represent the 1st congressional district. Olver announced that he would not seek re-election in 2012, Olver was born on September 3,1936 in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen Marguerite and Thomas Horace Olver. His paternal grandparents were of English descent and his grandparents were German. Olver grew up on his fathers farm, where the two tended cows, while his mother ran a house which served families from Philadelphia. Olver graduated from school when he was 15 and enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Olver taught chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for eight years and he served two terms as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from January 1,1969, to January 3,1973. He later served for nine terms in the Massachusetts Senate from January 3,1973, on February 18,1991, Congressman Silvio Conte died one month after taking office for his 17th term. Olver resigned from the state Senate on June 15 and was sworn in June 18, Olver won election to a full term in 1992. In 1994, the year which Republican took control of the House for the first time in 40 years, in 1996, he defeated State Senator and future Lieutenant and Acting Governor Jane Swift by a 53% to 47% margin. After 1996, Olver continually won re-election with high margins above 60% and his district had been eliminated in redistricting. The bulk of his territory had been merged with the 2nd district of fellow Democrat Richard Neal. CQs Politics in America described Olver as a liberal who prefers to yield the spotlight to other similarly ideological members. As a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Olver endorsed future President Barack Obama, Olver has advocated for the removal of U. S. troops from Iraq, and has consistently voted against proposals to increase funding for military operations and increased deployment. Olver has been critical of the United States lack of involvement regarding the genocide in Darfur, Olver was one of five members of Congress arrested April 28,2006 after protesting the genocide outside the Sudanese Embassy. Olver was arrested again in front of the Sudanese Embassy during a protest in 2012 along with members of Congress. Olver co-sponsored H. R.676 which would introduce a health insurance program with single-payer financing
6.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
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Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. The population was 44,737 at the 2010 census, although the population has declined in recent decades, Pittsfield remains the third largest municipality in western Massachusetts, behind only Springfield and Chicopee. In 2005, Farmers Insurance ranked Pittsfield 20th in the United States as Most Secure Place To Live among small towns with fewer than 150,000 residents, in 2006, Forbes ranked Pittsfield as number 61 in its list of Best Small Places for Business. In 2008, Country Home magazine ranked Pittsfield as #24 in a listing of cities east of the Mississippi. In 2009, the City of Pittsfield was chosen to receive a 2009 Commonwealth Award, Massachusetts highest award in the arts, humanities, in 2010, the Financial Times proclaimed Pittsfield the Brooklyn of the Berkshires, in an article covering its recent renaissance. In 1738, a wealthy Bostonian named Col. Jacob Wendell bought 24,000 acres of lands known originally as Pontoosuck and he planned to subdivide and resell to others who would settle there. He formed a partnership with Philip Livingston, a kinsman from Albany, New York, and Col. John Stoddard of Northampton. Mrs. Deming was the first and the last of the original settlers, solomon Deming died in 1815 at the age of 96. Royal Governor Sir Francis Bernard named Pittsfield after British nobleman and politician William Pitt, by 1761 there were 200 residents, and the plantation became the Township of Pittsfield. Brown wrote in his winter 1776-77 handbill, Money is this mans God, Pittsfield was primarily an agricultural area, because of the many brooks that flowed into the Housatonic River, the landscape was dotted with mills that produced lumber, grist, paper, and textiles. The town was a metropolis by the late 19th century. Stanleys enterprise was the forerunner of the internationally known corporate giant, thanks to the success of GE, Pittsfields population in 1930 had grown to more than 50,000. On October 8,2015, SABIC announced it would relocate its headquarters from Pittsfield to Houston, General Dynamics occupies many of the old GE buildings, and its workforce is expanding. Much of General Dynamics local success is based on the awarding of government contracts related to its information systems. Roosevelt, Massachusetts Governor Winthrop Murray Crane, secretary to the president George Bruce Cortelyou, Craig was killed, he was the first Secret Service agent killed while on a presidential protection detail. Roosevelt, whose face and left shin were badly bruised, nearly came to blows with the trolley motorman, Madden was later charged with manslaughter, to which he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to six months in jail and a heavy fine, in 2004, historian John Thorn discovered a reference to a 1791 by-law prohibiting anyone from playing baseball within 80 yards of the new meeting house in Pittsfield
7.
Bethesda, Maryland
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Bethesda is a census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, located just northwest of the U. S. capital of Washington, D. C. It takes its name from a church, the Bethesda Meeting House. In Aramaic, ܒܝܬ ܚܣܕܐ beth ḥesda means House of Mercy and in Hebrew, the National Institutes of Health main campus and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center are in Bethesda, as are a number of corporate and government headquarters. In 2014 it placed first in Forbes list of Americas most educated small towns, as an unincorporated area, Bethesda has no official boundaries. The United States Census Bureau defines a place named Bethesda whose center is located at 38°59′N 77°7′W. The United States Geological Survey has defined Bethesda as an area whose center is at 38°58′50″N 77°6′2″W, other definitions are used by the Bethesda Urban Planning District, the United States Postal Service, and other organizations. According to estimates released by the U. S. Census Bureau in 2013, Most of Bethesdas residents are in Maryland Legislative District 16. Bethesda is situated along a thoroughfare that was originally the route of an ancient Native American trail. Henry Fleet, an English fur trader, was the first European to travel to the area, Most early settlers in Maryland were tenant farmers who paid their rent in tobacco. A small settlement grew around a store and tollhouse along the turnpike, by 1862, the community was known as Darcys Store after the owner of a local establishment, William E. Darcy. The church burned in 1849 and was rebuilt the same year about 100 yards south at its present site. Throughout most of the 19th century, Bethesda never developed beyond a small village, consisting of a post office, a blacksmith shop, a church and school. It was not until the installation of a line in 1890. Until that time, dependence on proximity to rail lines insulated Bethesda from growth, the arrival of the personal automobile ended this dependency, and Bethesda planners grew the community with the newest transportation revolution in mind. Subdivisions began to appear on old farmland, becoming the neighborhoods of Drummond, Woodmont, Edgemoor, further north, several wealthy men made Rockville Pike famous for its mansions. These included Brainard W. Parker, James Oyster, George E. Hamilton, wilson, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, and George Freeland Peter. In 1930, Dr Armistead Peters pioneering manor house Winona became the clubhouse of the original Woodmont Country Club, merle Thorpes mansion, Pooks Hill —on the site of the current neighborhood of the same name—became the home-in-exile of the Norwegian Royal Family during World War II. That war, and the expansion of government that it created, both the National Naval Medical Center and the NIH complex were built just to the north of the developing downtown
8.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
9.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
United States of America
United States Navy
