1823 - Definition and Overview

Events

• July 15 - San Paolo fuori le Mura church in Rome almost completely destroyed by fire
• September 10 - Simón Bolívar named President of Peru
• December 2 - US President James Monroe delivers a speech to the U.S. Congress, announcing a new policy of forbidding European interference in the Americas and establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts (this would later be called the Monroe Doctrine)
• December 23 - A Visit From St. Nicholas, attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, is first published
• Ferdinand VII revokes Spanish Constitution of 1812 and restores absolute monarchy
• The Olbers' paradox is described by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.

Births

• January 8 - Alfred Russel Wallace, naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
• February 27 - Ernest Renan, Professor of Old Testament in the Collège de France (d. 1892)
• March 20 - Ned Buntline, "dime novelist", publisher, writer, publicist (d. 1886)
• March 23 - Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
• April 3 - William Marcy Tweed, political boss (d. 1878)
• April 23 - Abd-ul-Mejid, future Ottoman sultan (d. 1861)
• June 21 - Jean Chacornac, astronomer (d. 1873)
• August 13 - Goldwin Smith, historian (d. 1910)
• December 6 - Friedrich Max Müller, Orientalist (d. 1900)

Deaths

• January 26 - Edward Jenner, inventor of the vaccine (b. 1749)
• February 7 - Ann Radcliffe, writer (b. 1764)
• August 20 - Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
• September 11 - David Ricardo, economist (b. 1772)