Matthew Lyon (July 14, 1749 – August 1, 1822) was an Irish-born American printer, farmer, soldier and politician, who served as a United States representative from both Vermont and Kentucky.

[2] Some sources indicate that his father was executed for treason against the British government of Ireland, and Lyon worked as a boy to help support his widowed mother.

[8] In a version of the event later circulated by his political opponents, he was cashiered for cowardice and ordered to carry a wooden sword to represent his shame.

[11][12] Lyon subsequently joined Warner's regiment as a paymaster with the rank of captain, and served during the Battle of Bennington and other actions.

[19] In 1793, he started a printing office and published the Farmers' Library newspaper; though his son James was the nominal owner, Matthew Lyon oversaw the paper's management and supplied much of its content.

[26] Griswold finally lost his temper and insulted Lyon by calling him a scoundrel, which at the time was considered profanity.

[31] Not satisfied with the apology, on February 15, 1798, Griswold retaliated by attacking Lyon with a wooden cane, beating him about the head and shoulders in view of other representatives on the House floor.

On October 10, 1798, he was found guilty of violating the Alien and Sedition Acts,[34] which prohibited malicious writing about the American government as a whole, or of the houses of Congress, or of the president.

During the Quasi War with France,[35] Lyon was the first person to be put to trial for violating the acts after he published editorials criticizing Federalist President John Adams.

[36] Lyon had launched his own newspaper, The Scourge of Aristocracy and Repository of Important Political Truth,[37] when the Rutland Herald refused to publish his writings.

[38][n 3][39] Before the Alien and Sedition Acts had been passed, Lyon had also written a letter to Alden Spooner, the publisher of the Vermont Journal.

"[38] Once the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed, the Federalists pushed for this letter to be printed in the Vermont Journal, which Spooner did, thus adding additional charges against Lyon.

[38] One other charge included publishing letters written by the poet Joel Barlow, which Lyon had read at political rallies.

[43][44] Lyon was sentenced to four months in a 16 by 12 feet (4.9 m × 3.7 m) jail cell used for felons, counterfeiters, thieves, and runaway slaves in Vergennes, and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and court costs (equivalent to $18,317 in 2023); Judge William Paterson lamented being unable to give a harsher punishment.

"[46] After years of effort by his heirs, in 1840 Congress passed a bill authorizing a refund of the fine Lyon incurred under the Alien and Sedition Acts and other expenses he accrued as the result of his imprisonment, plus interest.

[51] Vermont was one of the two "no result" states, because Lewis Morris voted for Burr and Lyon cast his ballot for Jefferson.

[62] After repaying his debts and recovering financially, but failing to obtain payment for his war of 1812 contract, Lyon solicited a federal appointment that would provide a salary and stability in his final years.

[63] In 1820, President James Monroe, a friend and political supporter of Lyon's, appointed him United States factor to the Cherokee Nation in the Arkansas Territory.

[64] He again attempted to serve in Washington, D.C. by running for the Arkansas Territory's delegate seat in Congress against incumbent James Woodson Bates.

[65] Lyon wrote to the House that the governor of the territory and other officials refused to allow him to inspect ballots and returns, or to have a hearing where he could call witnesses.

[75] According to research conducted by The Washington Post in 2022, Lyon was included in the list of more than 1,700 men who served in the U.S. Congress who owned slaves.