- Date:
- 1798
- Original Format:
- Cartoon
- Item#:
- 1790.0016
Congressional Pugilists
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.