Last updated: April 30, 2025
Place
Lyon Griswold Debate
Library of Congress
Quick Facts
Location:
Congress Hall
“We are in the wilderness without a single footstep to guide us”
James Madison July 15, 1789
In the 1790s the United States tackled big questions it never dealt with before. Should new states have the same rights as original states? Should we have a standing military? Should we change the Constitution? Who counts as a citizen?With little experience to go off, and sometimes limited instructions from the Constitution, emotions in and out of Congress ran high.
Political disagreement sometimes turned personal and violent. In February 1798 a fight broke out on the house floor. Representative Roger Griswold of Connecticut, wielding a cane, attacked Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont, furious that the House failed to expel Lyon for spitting tobacco juice at him. Lyon defended himself with a pair of fire tongs. Both Members were separated but not expelled. While the fight you see in this political cartoon was personal, it grew out of the fighting between political factions—what we call political parties. In this case, disagreement started over whether to go to war with France.
While this cartoon vibrantly depicts the emotion and violence witnessed on the house floor, it also gives us clues about what this space looked like—does the speaker’s chair look familiar? How about the pattern on the floor?
James Madison July 15, 1789
In the 1790s the United States tackled big questions it never dealt with before. Should new states have the same rights as original states? Should we have a standing military? Should we change the Constitution? Who counts as a citizen?With little experience to go off, and sometimes limited instructions from the Constitution, emotions in and out of Congress ran high.
Political disagreement sometimes turned personal and violent. In February 1798 a fight broke out on the house floor. Representative Roger Griswold of Connecticut, wielding a cane, attacked Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont, furious that the House failed to expel Lyon for spitting tobacco juice at him. Lyon defended himself with a pair of fire tongs. Both Members were separated but not expelled. While the fight you see in this political cartoon was personal, it grew out of the fighting between political factions—what we call political parties. In this case, disagreement started over whether to go to war with France.
While this cartoon vibrantly depicts the emotion and violence witnessed on the house floor, it also gives us clues about what this space looked like—does the speaker’s chair look familiar? How about the pattern on the floor?