Weekly Historical Highlights (February 11 through 17)
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February 14, 1874
Representative Robert De Large of South Carolina—one of nearly two dozen African Americans to serve in Congress during the Reconstruction Era—died on this date. De Large was born free and attained a modest education. During the post-Civil War military occupation of the South, he became a South Carolina state representative in 1868. Two years later, he was elected as a Republican U.S. Representative to the 42nd Congress (1871–1873), joining four other African Americans who served in the House during that term: Joseph Rainey of South Carolina, Robert Elliott of South Carolina, Benjamin Turner of Alabama, and Josiah Walls of Florida. De Large’s congressional career ended prematurely on January 24, 1873. After a formal challenge by his opponent, the House Committee on Elections declared the seat vacant because of election irregularities. De Large returned to South Carolina and declined to run for the 43rd Congress (1873–1875) due to his declining health. Alonzo Ransier, an African-American, succeeded De Large in the House.
February 15, 1798
After the House failed to expel Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont for the “gross indecency” of spitting tobacco juice at Representative Roger Griswold of Connecticut, Griswold sought justice by attacking Lyon on the House Floor (then located in Philadelphia’s Congress Hall) with a cane. Lyon defended himself with a pair of fire tongs. Both Members were separated, and a resolution to expel them was defeated handily, 73 to 21. One contemporary cartoon depicted both Members jousting with cane and tongs in what the cartoonist described as “royal sport.” The episode revealed emergent political factionalism in the House at a time when formal parties had yet to fully form. Underlying the Lyon-Griswold incident was Griswold’s support for the John Adams administration’s hard line diplomacy toward France and military preparations in the event of hostilities. Lyon believed that preparations for war would eventually precipitate war.
February 17, 1906
Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio married Alice Roosevelt, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, in a White House ceremony. Widely celebrated in the U.S., the nuptials also captured international attention. Dignitaries from around the world attended the event, which the foreign press also scrutinized. Nick Longworth, a lieutenant of the powerful House Speaker Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, eventually rose to the Speakership in 1925 and served as a popular and influential presiding officer in his own right. Both before and long after her husband’s untimely death in 1931, Alice Roosevelt Longworth served as one of official Washington’s most memorable hostesses. A peppery and plain-spoken fixture on the capital social circuit, she lived to the ripe old age of 96. She was famous for greeting her dinner guests with the line, “If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.”
