The seventh edition of the Encyclopedia of American History updates this indispensable and classic reference book to cover the history of the United States from pre-Columbian times through the first year of the Clinton Administration. Unequaled in the amount of information contained within a single volume and designed to be read as a narrative the Encyclopedia chronicles all the essential facts of American history from government and politics to science thought and culture. The Encyclopedia is divided onto four parts: Part 1: THE BASIC CHRONOLOGY presents the main political and military events in the history of the United States beginning with the era of discovery. It has been updated to reflect newly discovered facts and modern perspectives on domestic and foreign affairs. Part 2: THE TOPICAL CHRONOLOGY records the nonpolitical aspects of American life and has been extensively revised to include a newly titled section Land Natural Resources Energy and the Environment as well as updated sections dealing with the American economy. A few of the topics covered in this section are the fine arts religion medicine education television and radio immigration population United States expansion and Supreme Court decisions. Part 3: NOTABLE AMERICAN BIOGRAPHIES contains profiles of 450 influential Americans from all walks of life and their outstanding achievements. Part 4: THE STRUCTURE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT includes tables of U.S Presidents and their cabinets party strength in Congress from 1789 and Supreme Court justices as well as the complete texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Jeffrey B. Morris is professor of law at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center of Touro College. Associate editor for the last two revised editions of the Encyclopedia of American History Morris is the author of over a dozen books including Federal Justice in the Second Circuit and To Administer Justice on Behalf of All the People: The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York 1965-1990. He has been professor of political science at City College of the City University of New York and the University of Pennsylvania and visiting professor of law at the Brooklyn Law School. From 1976 to 1981 Morris served as the chief research associate to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger in Burger s role as head of the federal court system. Richard B. Morris (1904-1989) was Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia University and past president of the American Historical Association. Morris wrote more than 40 books spanning legal labor diplomatic political and social history including The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence The Forging of the Union 1781-1789 Witnesses at the Creation Government and Labor in Early America and Studies in The History of American Law. He lectured throughout the world serving as Fulbright Research Professor at the Sorbonne and Distinguished Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute of the Free University of Berlin.