Events January–March January 10 – Elizabeth Barrett receives a love letter from the younger poet Robert Browning; on May 20, they meet for the first time in London. She begins writing her Sonnets from the Portuguese. January 23 – The United States Congress establishes a uniform date for federal elections, which will henceforth be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. January 29 – The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time, in the New York Evening Mirror. February 1 – Anson Jones, President of the Republic of Texas, signs the charter officially creating Baylor University (the oldest university in the State of Texas operating under its original name). February 7 – In the British Museum, a drunken visitor smashes the Portland Vase, which takes months to repair. February 28 – The United States Congress approves the annexation of Texas. March 1 – President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. March 3 Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state. The United States Congress passes legislation overriding a presidential veto for the first time. March 4 – James K. Polk is sworn in as the 11th President of the United States. March 11 – New Zealand Wars open with the Flagstaff War: Chiefs Kawiti and Hone Heke lead 700 Māoris in the burning of the British colonial settlement of Kororāreka (modern-day Russell, New Zealand). March 13 – The Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn premieres in Leipzig, with Ferdinand David as soloist. March 17 – Stephen Perry patents the rubber band, in the United Kingdom. March 30 – Due to different transition dates to the Gregorian calendar, Finland (then part of the Russian Empire) is the only place in the world to have Easter day on this particular Sunday. April–June April 7 – An earthquake destroys part of Mexico City, along with the nearby towns of Tlalpan and Xochimilco. April 10 – The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroys much of the American city of Pittsburgh. April 20 – Ramón Castilla becomes president of Peru. May – Frederick Douglass's autobiographical Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is published by the Boston Anti-Slavery Society. May 2 – Yarmouth suspension bridge in Great Yarmouth, England, collapses leaving around 80 dead, mostly children. May 19 – HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with 134 men,