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<p>A crude portrayal of a fight on the floor of Congress between Vermont Representative <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lyon" class="extiw" title="w:Matthew Lyon">Matthew Lyon</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Griswold" class="extiw" title="w:Roger Griswold">Roger Griswold</a> of Connecticut. The row was originally prompted by an insulting reference to Lyon on Griswold's part. The interior of Congress Hall is shown, with the Speaker <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Dayton" class="extiw" title="w:Jonathan Dayton">Jonathan Dayton</a> and Clerk <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_W._Condy" class="extiw" title="w:Jonathan W. Condy">Jonathan W. Condy</a> (both seated), Chaplain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashbel_Green" class="extiw" title="w:Ashbel Green">Ashbel Green</a> (in profile on the left), and several others looking on, as Griswold, armed with a cane, kicks Lyon, who grasps the former's arm and raises a pair of fireplace tongs to strike him. Below are the verses: "He in a trice struck Lyon thrice / Upon his head, enrag'd sir, / Who seiz'd the tongs to ease his wrongs, / And Griswold thus engag'd, sir."<br><br></p>
This was a Congressional meeting, planned to remove <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blount" class="extiw" title="w:William Blount">William Blount</a>, from office, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee" class="extiw" title="w:Tennessee">Tennessee</a>, when this political encounter occurred. Because Lyon was ignoring Griswold, Griswold insulted Lyon, calling him a scoundrel. After Griswold called Lyon a scoundrel, Lyon spat in Griswold's face and their fighting started.</div>
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Unknown artist<span style="display: none;">Unknown artist</span></div>
15 February 1798<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1798-02-15T00:00:00Z/11</div>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.  American Cartoon Prints Collection.  <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a05342">http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a05342</a>