Anti-duelling law was passed by US Congress

Say what you will about the current state of affairs in our government: at least they do not take up arms against one another when civility fails. Such was not the case around the time of Thomas Jefferson’s presidential campaign. Alexander Hamilton found himself on opposite sides, ideologically, from Jefferson’s running-mate Aaron Burr, and kept him away from the presidency by means of a nasty public letter. Then Hamilton found himself on opposite sides physically from Burr, as the two squared off in a pistols duel during which Hamilton died. Tragedy it may have been, it still took another three decades for anyone to bring up the idea of ending the dueling practice.

On this day, February 20, in 1839, in response to yet another political duel-to-the-death, Congress finally stepped up to outlaw dueling within Washington D.C. Other states would soon follow.

The duel that spurred the dueling prohibition came between Jonathan Cilley of Maine and Representative William Graves of Kentucky, on the Bladensburg Duelling Grounds at the outskirts of Washington, D.C. Graves had a grievance with Ciley for the latter’s (in Grave’s mind, unfounded) accusation of bribery on the house floor. When Ciley refused to disavow his statement, Graves, feeling personally insulted, challenged him to settle the matter with pistols.