land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains to the United States, by way of commissioners William C. C. Claiborne and James Wilkinson. Claiborne is appointed as the area's first American governor. Undated Major breakthroughs in chemistry occur, with the identification of the elements rhodium and palladium (by William Hyde Wollaston); osmium and iridium (by Smithson Tennant); and cerium (by Wilhelm Hisinger, Jons Jakob Berzelius and Martin Heinrich Klaproth) Births January–June February 2 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American Confederate general (d. 1862) February 15 Karl Friedrich Schimper, German botanist, naturalist and poet (d. 1867) John Sutter, German-American pioneer (d. 1880) February 26 – Arnold Adolph Berthold, German physiologist, zoologist (d. 1861) March 12 – Guillaume de Felice, Savoy nobleman, abolitionist (d. 1871) March 16 – Nikolay Yazykov, Russian poet, Slavophile (d. 1846) March 27 – Charles Lafontaine, Swiss mesmerist (d. 1892) April 7 – Flora Tristan, French feminist (d. 1844) April 30 Jeremiah E. Cary, American politician (d. 1888) Albrecht von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (d. 1879) May 12 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873) May 20 – Ann Walker, English landowner and philanthropist (d. 1854) May 24 – Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French naturalist, ornithologist (d. 1857) May 25 Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English novelist, playwright and politician (d. 1873) Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer (d. 1882) June 8 – Amalia Assur, Swedish dentist (d. 1889) June 24 – George James Webb, English-born composer (d. 1887) July–December July 10 – William Todd (1803–1873), American businessman, Canadian senate nominee July 20 – John Hymers, English mathematician (d. 1887) July 24 – Adolphe Adam, French composer (d. 1856) July 31 – John Ericsson, Swedish inventor, engineer (d. 1889) August – Francesca Anna Canfield, American linguist, poet and translator (d. 1833) August 3 Mary Dominus, American settler of Hawaii (d. 1889) Sir Joseph Paxton, English gardener, architect and Member of Parliament (d. 1865) August 10 – Joseph Vinoy, French general (d. 1880) August 13 – Vladimir Odoyevsky, Russian philosopher, writer, music critic (d. 1869) August 18 – Nathan Clifford, American politician, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1881) August 23 Jan Erazim Vocel, Czech poet, archaeologist, historian and cultural revivalist (d. 1871) Gustaf Wappers, Belgian painter (d. 1874) August 27 – Edward Beecher, American theologian (d. 1895) September 4 Anna Nielsen, Danish mezzo-soprano (d. 1856) Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of the United States (d. 1891)