Samuel (Latham) Mitchill

US representative, senator, and physician, born in North Hempstead, New York, USA. He earned his MD (1786) in Edinburgh, Scotland, then returned to New York to study law. In 1792 he was named to a chair at Columbia University, first in natural history, chemistry, and agriculture, then in botany. He edited the Medical Repository (1797–1820), wrote many books including Explanation of the Synopsis of Chemical Nomenclature and Arrangement (1801), and made contributions to the study of sanitary and industrial chemistry. He was elected to the US House of Representatives (Republican, New York, 1801–4), leaving mid-term for the US Senate (1804–9), then returning to the House (1809–13). He taught at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York (1807–26) and helped found Rutgers Medical College (1826).

Samuel Latham Mitchill (August 20, 1764 – September 7, 1831) was an American physician, naturalist and politician from New York. He served in the New York State Assembly in 1791 and again in 1798. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives and served from 1801 until his resignation on November 22, 1804. Mitchill was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Armstrong, Jr. He served once more in the United States House of Representatives from December 4, 1810 until March 3, 1813.

During the United States of America's first decades a few efforts to change the nation's name were launched. The main criticisms of the name "United States of America" were that it was too long, vague or imprecise, and "unpoetic". The strongest proposal for a new name was Columbia, which failed to become the nation's name but did become the name of numerous places in the country. However, many towns and cities adopted the name, such as Fredonia, New York (Stewart, pg.