The controversy over Representative-Elect Brigham Roberts of Utah was one of the first events artist T. Dart Walker documented in the House Chamber. The sketch accompanied a Leslie’s Weekly Illustrated essay by Roberts’ daughter Adah (walking with her father at lower right). Roberts had defended his election on the floor of the House, arguing that his polygamous marriages predated the state's ban on the practice and should not bar him from House service. The“characteristic attitudes” he struck on the floor were captured in this print, but his arguments were no match for the public outcry represented by rolls of petitions presented to Speaker David Henderson.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “The Most Extraordinary Incident of the Opening of the Fifty-Sixth Congress,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2010/2010-113-004/ (October 29, 2020)
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