France and the Lord Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, future Emperor of Vietnam. December 3 – James Rumsey demonstrates his water-jet propelled boat on the Potomac River. December 7 – Delaware ratifies the Constitution, and becomes the first U.S. state. December 8 – La Purisima Mission is founded by Padre Fermín Lasuén as the eleventh of the Spanish missions in California. December 12 – Pennsylvania becomes the second U.S. state. December 18 – New Jersey becomes the third U.S. state. December 23 – Captain William Bligh sets sail from England for Tahiti, on . Date unknown Caroline Herschel is granted an annual salary of £50, by King George III of Great Britain, for acting as assistant to her brother William in astronomy. The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Waynesborough, and designates it the seat for Wayne County, North Carolina. Antoine Lavoisier is the first to suggest that silica is an oxide of a hitherto unknown metallic chemical element, later isolated and named silicon. Freed slave Ottobah Cugoano publishes Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species in England. J. Cl. Todes Døtreskole, the first serious school for girls in Denmark, is founded. A fossil bone recovered from Cretaceous strata at Woodbury, New Jersey is discussed by the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Births January 1 – Manuel José Arce, Revolutionary General and first President of The Federal Republic of Central America (d. 1847) February 10 – William Bradley, Britain's tallest man ever at 7 ft 9 in. (d. 1820) February 23 – Emma Willard, American educator (d. 1870) March 6 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician (d. 1826) March 7 – George Bethune English, American explorer and writer (d. 1828) March 9 - Josephine Kablick, Czech botanist, paleontologist (d. 1863) March 10 – Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1862) March 11 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian General (d. 1852) April 26 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet (d. 1862) May 25 – José María Bocanegra, 3rd President of Mexico (d. 1862) June 28 – Sir Harry Smith, English soldier, military commander (d. 1860) July 28 – Pedro Vélez, Mexican politician (d. 1848) August 24 – James Weddell, British sailor known for discovering the Weddell Sea (d. 1834) September 5 – François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist, geologist (d. 1850) October 4, – François Guizot, Prime Minister