The Jacobins were a radical French political group. The Jacobins stood for the establishment of a single, uniform, rational and centralised nation- state, which would be a democratic republic, expressing the sovereignty of the people. Jacobins were entirely hostile to aristocratic privileges and to all feudal forms of government. They were originally called the Club Breton when they were formed in Versailles, but on moving to Paris in 1789 were renamed the Jacobins. After successive purges they became the instrument of the Reign of Terror under Robespierre's dictatorship. See Jacobinism Research Jacobins
The Loco-foco was the radical faction of the American Democratic party between 1835 and 1837. The faction was properly of New York, though the name was afterward made national. During the Federalist control of the Government, the method of granting bank charters and controlling banks was charged by the opposing faction with favouritism and corruption. Upon their gaining control, things did not, in the opinion of many, improve; and in 1835 there was formed in New York the Equal Rights party, opposed to special privileges in granting bank charters to corporations. At a meeting in Tammany Hall, on October 29th 1835, the regular Tammany Democrats tried to gain control. Finding themselves outnumbered, they turned out the lights and retired. The Equal Rights men produced candles and loco-foco matches, and continued the meeting. Hence the name. This party was beaten at the elections, but nevertheless exercised considerable influence. Research Loco-foco
Montanism was a schismatic movement which arose in the Christian church during the 2nd century. Montanus, the originator of the movement, was a Mysian, and about 130 began to make the claim of being a divinely commissioned prophet, the bearer of a fresh influx of the Spirit. He soon gained a large following, and with two women, Maximilla and Priscilla, likewise possessors of the new charism of the Spirit, proclaimed the imminent return of Christ at Pepuza in Phrygia, and demanded a radical transformation of the church's life, for example by fasting, by regarding marriage as an inferior state, and by refusing to absolve from post- baptismal sin.
The spread of Montanism in Asia Minor soon compelled the church to take action. But the condemnation of its tenets only disseminated them more widely: they gained adherents in Italy and Gaul, and in North Africa won over Tertullian of Carthage. A synod at Iconium, in 235, declared Montanism to be a heretical system, and the council of Constantinople in 381 refused to sanction the baptism of Montanism, thereby putting it on the same footing as paganism. By 400 the movement was practically extinct. Research Montanism
Occasionalism is a term employed to designate the philosophical system devised by the followers of the 17th-century French philosopher Rene Descartes, who, in attempting to explain the interrelationship between mind and body, concluded that God is the only cause. The occasionalists began with the assumption that certain actions or modifications of the body are preceded, accompanied, or followed by changes in the mind. This assumed relationship presents no difficulty to the popular conception of mind and body, according to which each entity is supposed to act directly on the other; these philosophers, however, asserting that cause and effect must be similar, could not conceive the possibility of any direct mutual interaction between substances as dissimilar as mind and body.
According to the occasionalists, the action of the mind is not, and cannot be, the cause of the corresponding action of the body. Whenever any action of the mind takes place, God directly produces in connection with that action, and by reason of it, a corresponding action of the body; the converse process is likewise true. This theory did not solve the problem, for if the mind cannot act on the body (matter), then God, conceived as mind, cannot act on matter. Conversely, if God is conceived as other than mind, then he cannot act on mind. A proposed solution to this problem was furnished by exponents of radicalempiricism such as the American philosopher and psychologist William James. This theory disposed of the dualism of the occasionalists by denying the fundamental difference between mind and matter. Research Occasionalism
The Progressive Labor Party was an American political party formed from the radical, or socialistic element that withdrew from the United Labor Party at Syracuse, New York on August the 19th, 1886. They advocated a common inheritance of land and wealth and industries, and upheld all the tenets of extreme socialism. Research Progressive Labor Party
The name of Republicans was, in the earlier history of the United States, taken by the party formed by Jefferson, as distinguishing them from their Federalist opponents (later known as the Democratic Party), stigmatised as monarchists. In 1854 the name was revived, to be applied to a new political party, at first characterized primarily by opposition to the extension of slavery to the territories.
The compromise of 1850 had resulted in the disruption and decay of the Whig party. There was a brief interval before parties could be re-formed upon the basis of the slavery question purely. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act by the Democrats in 1854 caused a general coalition of Northern Free-Soilers, Whigs, Democrats, Know-Nothings and Abolitionists, united in opposition to that measure and the consequent repeal of the Missouri Compromise. At first known as 'Anti-Nebraska Men', the coalitionists took in that same year the name of Republicans. They at once won a plurality of Congress, and in 1856 held their first national convention at Philadelphia, which nominated Fremont and Dayton. Defeated then, in 1859 they again controlled the House. In 1860 Democratic divisions enabled them to elect Abraham Lincoln.
For the next' fourteen years the party, reinforced for a time by 'War Democrats', was supreme. It controlled the National Government, enlarged its powers by broad construction of the Constitution, carried on the American Civil War, abolished slavery, reconstructed the governments of the seceding States and controlled them, maintained the protective system and refunded the debt. It carried the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and of Grant in 1868 and 1872. The Liberal Republican schism of 1872 indicated a reaction from the radical policy followed in regard to reconstruction, and was followed by extensive defeats in the tidal wave of 1874, due partly to official corruption in high places.
Yet the party managed, though barely, to carry the election of Hayes in 1876, and elected Garfield in 1880. In 1884 the nomination of Blaine caused the bolt of the mugwumps, and the election of a Democratic President. The party then became, more distinctly than in the years just preceding, the party of high protection. In 1888 it elected Harrison. Defeated in 1892, it was again successful in State elections in 1893. Its strength traditionally lay in the North. During the later part of the 19th century the Republican Party advocated a more stirring foreign policy than that of the Democrats, and larger expenditures for pensions and other national objects.
During the 20th century the Republican Party became more right-wing, represented by presidents such as Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W Bush. Research Republican Party
St James' Gazette was an anti-radical evening newspaper first published in May 1880 at a price of 2d. It was founded by Frederick Greenwood as a Conservative supporting rival to the Pall Mall Gazette. In January 1882 the price was dropped to 1d and in 1905 it amalgamated with the Evening Standard. Research St. James' Gazette
The Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) is a Composite plant growing in the prairies of the Mississippivalley, and remarkable from the fact that its erect radical leaves stand so that their edges point almost exactly north and south, especially in midsummer. This is said to be due to the action of light, and to depend on the leaves having an equal number of stomata on either face. Research Compass Plant
The dandelion (Leontodontaraxacum) is a plant of the family Compositae indigenous to Europe, but introduced into America. It gets its name from its appearance, dent de lion (French for Lion's tooth), the leaves being all radical, and runcinate or jagged on the margin. The stems are hollow and have one bright yellow flower. The tapering, milky perennialroot was formerly used as a medicine for liver complaints. The whole plant is full of a milky and bitter juice. The seed of the plant is furnished with a white pappus, and is transported far and wide by the wind. Research Dandelion
Day-lily is the popular name for a genus of lilies (Hemerocallis), natives of temperate Asia and Eastern Europe, two species of which (Hemerocallis.flava and Hemorocallis fulva) are grown in gardens. They have long radical leaves, and a branched few-flowered scape, with large handsome blossoms, the segments of which are united into a tube. Research Day-Lily
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Jacobins
