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Congressional Pugilists
   
Complete Explanation:
The Library has three states of the print. Dayton, Condy, and Green are identified by keyed references in the (plate) margins of the second and third states. In all three "Congress Hall, in Philada. Feb.15.1798" is inscribed in the lower right corner. In the second and third this is followed by "S.E.Cor.6th & Chesnut St." In the third only, the number 17 appears in the upper right. Weitenkampf lists four states, some of which (including two of the Library's impressions) appear to be later restrikes. The call numbers are: PC/US - 1798.A000, no. 1 (A size) (first state); PC/US - 1798.A000, no. 2 (A size) (second state); PC/US - 1798.A000, no. 3 (A size) (third state).

A crude portrayal of a fight on the floor of Congress between Vermont Representative Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold 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 Jonathan Dayton and Clerk Jonathan W. Condy (both seated), Chaplain Ashbel Green (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."


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