Matthew Lyon (1749 – 1822), Part 1: Obituary

This is the first part of several consecutive posts on Matthew Lyon.  I'll begin at the end with his obituary, in hopes it will serve as an introduction to those unacquainted with him.

Part 1: Obituary of Matthew Lyon
Part 2: Spitting in Roger Griswold's Face
Part 3: History of the Wooden Sword
Part 4: Duel with Griswold
Part 5: Lyon's Kentucky Duel

From page 3 of the Arkansas Weekly Gazette of Little Rock, Arkansas on August 13, 1822:

OBITUARY.

Died, at Spadre Bluff, Arkansas Territory, on Thursday, the 1st of Agust, after a short illness, Colonel MATTHEW LYON, United States Factor, for the Cherokee Nation on the Arkansas, aged about 76 years.

Colonel Lyon was born in Ireland, but emigrated to America, at a very early period of his life.  He was one of the first settlers in Vermont, and married a daughter of one of the early governors of that state.  During the Revolutionary War, he took an active part in support of the liberties and independence of his adopted country.  After the war, he was chosen to fill several important civil offices.  He was a member of the Convention that formed the Constitution of Vermont, and was several times elected to the Legislature of that state.  About the year 1796, he was elected a Representative to Congress by the people of Vermont.  In 1797, General Washington having retired from the helm of state, he was succeeded by Mr. Adams.  This gentlemen unfortunately permitted himself to be influenced by certain members of his cabinet, who evidently aimed at the destruction of our republican institutions; and with a view to silence all opposition, a standing army was raised, and a fatal blow was given to the liberty of speech and the freedom of the press, by the passage of an act, commonly called the SEDITION LAW.  Colonel Lyon not only voted against those unconstitutional measures, but exerted all his influence to render them unpopular.  On his return to his constituents, he expressed his sentiments freely and openly respecting the conduct of the administration, and caused to be published, a letter addressed to him by a distinguished American then in France, which contained severe animadversions on the measures pursued by the General Government.   For these "high crimes and misdemeanors" he (although a Representative chosen by the people) was arrested, brought before a Federal Marshall, and sentenced to be imprisoned for three months, and to pay a fine of one thousand dollars.

At the time this unjust and disgraceful sentence was carried into effect, Colonel L. was on the eve of his departure for the seat of Government, to attend to his duties as a Representatives in Congress.  He was taken to prison during an inclement season, and for some time was treated with as much rigor as though he had been a malefactor.  A general burst of indignation was evinced in every part of the Union, at this arbitrary and vindictive conduct; and Colonel Lyon, amid his sufferings, had the satisfaction to find that his constituents had not abandoned him--on the constrary, while in prison, he was re-elected to a seat in Congress.

Having been unsuccessful in an extensive manufacturing establishment in which he was engaged in Vermont, and having a young and growing family to provide for, Colonel L. determined to emigrate to the western Country.  Accordingly, about the year 1802, he removed to Eddyville, Kentucky, on the Cumberland river, where he was for some time extensively engaged in the exporting and ship building business.

In 1803, he was elected a Representative in Congress from Kentucky, and was re-elected during the succeeding twelve years.  He was, also, several times elected to the Legislature of that state.

While in Congress, no member was more attentive to the interests of his constituents than Colonel Lyon; he likewise evinced his usual zeal and patriotism on all important national question. During 20 years of his life, he has been a member of different state Legislatures, was a member of Congress during 14 sessions, and has been a member of 7 or 8 Conventions raised for revolutionary purposes, or for forming or amending state Constitutions.

Having embarked his all in promoting improvements in his new settlement on the Cumberland, he, like many othe renterprizing and useful men, was unfortunate, and in the decline of life, had the misfortune to find himself reduced from affluence to poverty.  His friends have made his misfortunes known to the Executve, he was, in 1820, appointed to the situation which he filled at the time of his death.

About 6 or 7 months after his arrival in this Territory, an election took place for Delegate to Congress.  He announced himself as a Candidate, and nontwithstanding his advanced age, the short time he had been in the Territory, and the respectable standing of his opponent, he nearly succeeded in being elected.

In private as well as public life, the character of Colonel Lyon stood fair; his manners were calculated to make friends; he was frank, generous and sincere, and never evinced any thing like a vindicitve disposition even toward his enemies.

A Description of Roatan Island, 1766

The following is a description of the island of Roatan, located off the coast of Honduras.  This is part of a larger work titled The West India Pilot by Joseph Smith Speer, first published in London in 1766.  Speer's work can be found in the LoC online map collection.

Desks, Benches, and Chaos in the House of Representatives

WHY THERE IS CONFUSION 
ON THE FLOOR.
Wichita Daily Eagle, Jan. 13, 1891

The House of Representatives originally had a seating arrangement of assigned desks.  These desks were not only where members participated in the daily agenda, but also served as their personal office space where they wrote letters, conducted research, and talked with other members.  This arrangement resulted in a lot of general confusion.  The most popular solution to this problem was to replace the desks with benches to keep the members from carrying on all manner of business on the House floor. It was thought this would reduce noise and increase collective participation. Two unsuccessful propositions for benches were made in 1842 and 1847.  A third proposition in 1859 succeeded, to begin in 1860.  The benches were changed back to desks after only twelve weeks due in part to an increase in fighting among members in the days before disunion.  However, criticism of the desks continued, and subsequent propositions to change to benches were made in 1878, 1883, 1889, and 1901, until the measure finally succeeded in 1913.

Below are a five newspaper articles (or excerpts of articles) which fill in some of the more colorful details of how desks augmented the chaos of congress. 

Source for this introduction: Pgs 1106-1107 of Volume 5 of Hinds' Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United States by Asher C. Hinds, Clerk at the Speaker's Table, published 1907 and available on google books here. Also, due to the length of this blog post, all screencaps of articles have been placed at the very end with captions indicating their origin.

SEEN BY A CANUCK.

A Visitor From Canada Writes of the House of Representatives.

 [Toronto Globe republished in Macon Telegraph of Macon, GA on Feb 20, 1899]

From the Toronto Globe.
To the visitor in the house of representatives who has been accustomed to the severe discipline and strict decorum of British legislatures the degree of liberty indulged in by the members seems somewhat strange.  There is a continual hum of conversation, a constant moving about the floor, the frequent formation of groups of members for consultation and, what would doubtless be regarded as treason by the attendants in the gallery of the mother of parliaments, applause from the spectators at times.  The American politician is often accused of over-vehemence and a disposition to shout when ordinary tones would better serve the purpose.  After an hour in the big chamber of the popular house, with its continued din, one can well understand that the member of congress comes naturally by his strident tones and strenuous manner.  Without them he would never be heard by his chattering colleagues, and to the galleries he would speak only by gesticulation.  The official reporters suffer greatly from the noise.  Instead of sitting at their desks in front of the speaker's chair, they find it necessary to skip about to whatever section of the house a speaker may be in, dropping into a vacant seat if convenient, but more frequently leaning against a desk, pad in hand.  Unhappy indeed is that mortal in the middle of whose 'take' there is a change of speakers.  He may have crept close up to 'the member from Michigan' on the extreme left of the huge semicircle in which the seats are arranged, and may have to make a run like a baseball player for his home base to the other side to catch the opening remarks of 'the member from Arkansas' as he rises to interpose an objection. 

SHOWING THE WAY REPRESENTATIVES ARE NOW SEATED AT THE DESKS.
Plan of the 59h Congress.
From The New York Tribune, of New York, NY on Oct. 20, 1907.

It sometimes happens that members lose their tempers in the heat of debate.  The bowie knife and the revolver, contrary to the belief of many of our kinsmen across the seas, are no longer the weapons with which these quarrels are settled.  They have been replaced by the statutes in calf and the inkstand, which are much more convenient and less deadly.  When a row breaks out on the floor and the combatants come to close quarters, it is the duty of the sergeant-at-arms to interpose the mace between them.  The mace is the emblem of the civil power, but it is somewhat different in appearance from ours.  It consists of a bundle of ebony rods bound together with ligaments of silver and having on top a silver globe surmounted by a silver eagle.  It resembles the faces borne by the lictors[?] before the Roman magistrates.  It is known familiarly as "the bird."  Just before the declaration of war with Spain "the bird" did duty in quelling a row.  An excited member had enforced his remarks by throwing the law in the concrete form at his opponents head.  The latter made a rush at his antagonist, mutual friends held them back, while from all sides of the house came the cry, "Sergeant, bring the bird!"  The bird was sent forward to the fighting line as rapidly as possible and hostilities ceased.  The man who would dare to strike a blow over "the bird" has not yet entered congress.

Fists Are Shaken.

[excerpt from "Fistfights in the Halls of Congress" by the New York Herald published in The Ogden Standard of Ogden, Utah on July 2, 1910.]

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1860.
Wichita Daily Eagle, Jan 13, 1891

The most hotly contested Speakership election featured the opening of the Thirty-sixth Congress, in December, 1859.  The bitterness of preceding contests paled before this struggle, which lasted from December 5, 1860.  The tenseness was exaggerated by the seating arrangement in the House.  Instead of the seats and desks of an earlier and a later day, benches were installed, so that the House was drawn into a small compass.  During these days of turmoil and strife the members were thus in closer contact and were more easily impelled by the prevailing passion.  As a consequence there was much shaking of fists under noses, much hurling threats of personal violence and much assuming of insulting and defiant attitudes.

Enthusiasm Described and Caution'd Against, by Charles Chauncy

I had a hard time trying to find this document online in its entirety, so I'm posting it here to help make it more accessible.

This is a polemic against the Great Awakening written by a Puritan minister, Charles Chauncy, in 1742.  The sermon is printed in a book titled Puritan Rhetoric: The Issue of Emotion in Religion, starting on page 103.  That book is only available for partial view on google books.  I then signed up for a trial version of a pay-per-view article database website and grabbed it off there, however that version was devoid of italics.  I have tried to add in the italics where possible based off the partial view of Puritan Rhetoric on google books.  Therefore, the formatting presented in the below version is not complete.