HRES 355 RTH 
ported sovereign nation and with Jefferson Davis of Mis-
sissippi as its president; 
Whereas, on March 11, 1861, the Confederate States of 
America adopted its own constitution; 
Whereas, on April 12, 1861, the Confederate States of Amer-
ica fired shots upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South 
Carolina, effectively beginning the Civil War; 
Whereas the United States did not recognize the Confederate 
States of America as a sovereign nation, but rather as a 
rebel insurrection, and took to military battle to bring the 
rogue States back into the Union; 
Whereas, on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surren-
dered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court 
House in Virginia, effectively, ending the Civil War and 
preserving the Union; 
Whereas during the Civil War, the Confederate States of 
America used the Navy Jack, Battle Flag, and other im-
agery as symbols of the Confederate armed forces; 
Whereas since the end of the Civil War, the Navy Jack, Con-
federate battle flag, and other imagery of the Confed-
eracy have been appropriated by groups as symbols of 
hate, terror, intolerance, and as supportive of the institu-
tion of slavery; 
Whereas groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other White 
supremacist groups utilize Confederate imagery to fright-
en, terrorize, and cause harm to groups of people toward 
whom they have hateful intent, including African-Ameri-
cans, Hispanic-Americans, and Jewish Americans; 
Whereas many State and Federal political leaders, including 
United States Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, 
along with Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn and 
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HRES 355 RTH 
other State leaders, have spoken out and advocated for 
the removal of the imagery of the Confederacy on Mis-
sissippi’s State flag; 
Whereas many Members of Congress, including Speaker John 
Boehner, support the removal of the Confederate flag 
from the grounds of South Carolina’s capitol; 
Whereas Speaker John Boehner released a statement on the 
issue saying, ‘‘I commend Governor Nikki Haley and 
other South Carolina leaders in their effort to remove the 
Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. In his second 
inaugural address 150 years ago, and a month before his 
assassination, President Abraham Lincoln ended his 
speech with these powerful words, which are as meaning-
ful today as when they were spoken on the East Front 
of the Capitol on March 4, 1865: ‘With malice toward 
none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as 
God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish 
the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to 
care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his 
widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and 
with all nations.’ ’’; 
Whereas the House of Representatives has several State flags 
with imagery of the Confederacy throughout its main 
structures and House office buildings; 
Whereas it is an uncontroverted fact that symbols of the Con-
federacy offend and insult many members of the general 
public who use the hallways of Congress each day; 
Whereas Congress has never permanently recognized in its 
hallways the symbols of sovereign nations with whom it 
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has gone to war or rogue entities such as the Confederate 
States of America; 
Whereas continuing to display a symbol of hatred, oppression, 
and insurrection that nearly tore our Union apart and 
that is known to offend many groups throughout the 
country would irreparably damage the reputation of this 
august institution and offend the very dignity of the 
House of Representatives; and 
Whereas this impairment of the dignity of the House and its 
Members constitutes a violation under rule IX of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives of the One Hun-
dred Fourteenth Congress: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the Speaker of the House of Rep-
resentatives shall remove any State flag containing any 
portion of the Confederate battle flag, other than a flag 
displayed by the office of a Member of the House, from 
any area within the House wing of the Capitol or any 
House office building, and shall donate any such flag to 
the Library of Congress. 
Æ 
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