Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum

Congressional Pugilists

Public Deposited

Resource type	Image
Creator	unknown
Description	Copper plate engraving, a different impression than CGA.AC.W7.041 (which another print of the same work). This is the rare first impression which lacks the names at the border of the plate, which were later added because people could not recognize the caricatures. This political cartoon depicts the first recorded physical brawl on the floor of the House of Representatives. Vermont congressman Matthew Lyon, a radical Democratic Republican, spit in Roger Griswold's face because of an alleged insult, and Griswold, a Federalist from Connecticut, attacked Lyon with a hickory cane at the chamber's next meeting. After Lyon picked up a pair of fire tongs to strike back, other congressmen, with difficulty, pulled the combatants apart without injury. Neither representative was expelled. It is perhaps the first well known separately published poltical cartoon in America. The location and date of the incident is listed as "Congress Hall, in Philada. Feb.15.1798." Figures named in the later impression are Speaker Jonathan Dayton, Clerk Jonathan W. Condy, and Chaplain Reverend Ashbel Green.
Subject	Congress Lyon, Matthew, 1749-1822 Insults Justice Dayton, Jonathan, 1760-1824 Griswold, Roger, 1762-1812 Green, Ashbel, 1762-1848 Condy, Jonathan W., 1770-1828 Political violence
Rights statement	Copyright Not Evaluated
Keyword	Democratic Republicans clerk Federalists chaplain speaker
Date created	1798
Last modified	March 06, 2024
Identifier	Finding Number: CGA.AC.AP6.076 Digital ID: d_14577
Collection identifier	SPEC.CGA.PUR
Repository	Ohio State University. Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
Alternative title	He in a trice struck Lyon thrice Upon his head, enrag'd Sir, Who seiz'd the tongs to ease his wrongs, And Greywold thus engag'd, Sir.
File Format	image/tiff
Rights note	This item, made available for research and educational purposes, may be protected by copyright; the user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status.
Version	original art
Medium	paper engraving
Permanent link	https://hdl.handle.net/1811/fd0e2be4-05e9-48e1-abe2-c75d315f0136
Time period (Topic)	1790s (1790-1799)
Genre	prints
Extent	17.7 x 24 cm

Credit line: The Ohio State University, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum

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	Congressional Pugilists	2018-12-03	Public