An old-school Congressional smackdown.

>When Rhode Island’s [Tristam Burges](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Tristam_Burges_by_Charles_Bird_King.jpg) taunted [John Randolph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/John_Wesley_Jarvis_-_John_Randolph_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg), a beardless bachelor with a high-pitched voice, with being “impotent of everything but malevolence of purpose,” Randolph retorted: “You pride yourself on an animal faculty in respect to which the slave is your equal and the jackass infinitely your superior!” _________________________________ **Source:** Boller, Paul F. “On the Floor.” *Congressional Anecdotes*. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 183-84. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Boykin, *Wit and Wisdom of Congress*, 160-61. ________________________________ **Further Reading:** [Tristam Burges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristam_Burges) [John Randolph of Roanoke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Randolph_of_Roanoke)