IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1359 
Condemning the atrocities that occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 
30, 1866, in which a White supremacist mob brutalized, terrorized, 
and killed dozens of Black Americans, and reaffirming the commitment 
of the House of Representatives to supporting the fundamental right 
to vote and to combating hatred, injustice, and White supremacy. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 15, 2024 
Mr. CARTER of Louisiana (for himself and Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the atrocities that occurred in New Orleans, 
Louisiana, on July 30, 1866, in which a White suprema-
cist mob brutalized, terrorized, and killed dozens of 
Black Americans, and reaffirming the commitment of 
the House of Representatives to supporting the funda-
mental right to vote and to combating hatred, injustice, 
and White supremacy. 
Whereas, throughout United States history, people organizing 
and advocating for civil rights, especially for Black Amer-
icans, have faced deadly violence or the threat thereof; 
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•HRES 1359 IH 
Whereas, in the aftermath of the Civil War, numerous States 
passed ‘‘Black Codes’’ that aimed to disenfranchise Black 
Americans and limit the rights of former slaves; 
Whereas, in 1864, a Constitutional Convention in Louisiana 
adopted a new State constitution that abolished slavery 
but did not recognize Black people’s right to vote; 
Whereas, in December 1865, the General Assembly of Lou-
isiana passed a series of laws that amounted to a ‘‘Black 
Code’’, restricting the freedom of former slaves and ce-
menting White supremacist rule; 
Whereas the provisions of Louisiana’s Black Code conflicted 
with the soon-to-be-passed Civil Rights Act of 1866; 
Whereas spring 1866 elections in Louisiana resulted in many 
ex-Confederates winning seats over pro-Union and pro- 
voting rights candidates; 
Whereas, in June 1866, 2 weeks after Congress’s passage of 
the 14th Amendment, several original convention mem-
bers and Louisiana Governor J. Madison Wells called for 
1864 Convention members to meet to discuss the possi-
bility of reconvening the 1864 Constitutional Convention 
to revise the State constitution; 
Whereas Historian Gilles Vandal asserted that ‘‘The Civil 
Rights Act and its enforcement became closely connected 
to the controversial question of reconvening the 1864 
Convention in late July 1866’’; 
Whereas, on July 27, 1866, Governor Wells appointed Lou-
isiana Supreme Court Judge R.K. Howell President pro 
tempore of the 1864 Convention, who in turn called for 
the Convention to reconvene on July 30, 1866, after the 
previous president of the Convention refused to recall the 
Convention; 
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Whereas New Orleans Mayor John T. Monroe, who had been 
previously removed from office for refusing to pledge loy-
alty to the Union, declared the Convention an ‘‘unlawful 
assemblage’’; 
Whereas, in advance of the Convention and foreseeing poten-
tial violence, the local army commander requested per-
mission to intervene in the case of violence; President 
Johnson failed to provide such an order; 
Whereas, on July 30, 1866, 25 members of the Convention 
gathered at the Mechanic’s Institute in New Orleans to 
reconvene the Convention of 1864, but they failed to 
meet the quorum. 
Whereas a group of approximately 200 unarmed Black Amer-
icans, many of whom were veterans, marched up Bur-
gundy Street to the Mechanic’s Institute to demonstrate 
support of the Convention’s intended expansion of the 
franchise, and protesters opposing the goals of the con-
vention also gathered outside the Institute at the corner 
of Common and Dryades Streets; 
Whereas taunting and vitriol directed at the Black marchers 
led to an initial exchange of violence; 
Whereas police monitoring the Institute began firing on the 
marchers, and protesters and police besieged the Conven-
tion attendees inside the Institute; 
Whereas 2 to 3 hours of brutal violence led to an official total 
of 38 individuals killed and 146 wounded, with 34 of the 
dead and 119 of the wounded being Black and 3 of the 
dead being White Convention delegates, and some unoffi-
cial estimates have the number of Black Americans dead 
much higher; 
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Whereas 261 Black and 4 White Americans were arrested for 
rioting; 
Whereas General Absalom Baird, who had denied Mayor 
Monroe’s request for help in arresting the Convention 
delegates, wired to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that 
afternoon, ‘‘Immediately after this riot assumed a serious 
character, the police, aided by the citizens, became the 
assailants, and from the evidence I am forced to believe, 
exercised great brutality in making their arrests. Finally, 
they attacked the Convention hall and a protracted strug-
gle ensued. The people inside the hall gave up some who 
surrendered, and were attacked afterward and brutally 
treated.’’; 
Whereas, in reporting to Ulysses S. Grant at the Department 
of War, General Philip Sheridan noted that the peaceful 
delegates and supporters were attacked ‘‘with fire-arms, 
clubs, and knives, in a manner so unnecessary and atro-
cious as to compel me to say that it was murder . . . It 
was no riot. It was an absolute massacre by the police, 
which was not excelled in murderous cruelty by that of 
Fort Pillow. It was a murder which the Mayor and police 
of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a neces-
sity.’’; 
Whereas opposition to the violence inflicted upon people at-
tempting to ensure voting rights for Black Americans 
during the New Orleans Riots was a major issue in the 
election of 1866, and spurred the election of Presidential- 
veto-proof, pro-civil rights congressional majorities; 
Whereas, on December 6, 1866, the House of Representatives 
established a Select Committee to investigate the New 
Orleans Riots; 
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Whereas, on February 11, 1867, the Committee released its 
report saying in part ‘‘in view of the facts proved we are 
constrained to say that the time has fully arrived when 
Congress should intervene and should so legislate as to 
secure to the people of Louisiana a republican form of 
government . . . Until a loyal State of Louisiana exists 
in full political accord with the United States, and the 
demand of the Constitution is complied with that a gov-
ernment in republican form shall be guaranteed to the 
State, the objects of the war will not have been at-
tained.’’; 
Whereas, on March 2, 1867, Congress overrode a Presidential 
veto to enact the First Reconstruction Act, which divided 
the former Confederate States into 5 military zones and 
set conditions for readmission, including requiring each 
southern State to draft a new State constitution that en-
franchised Black male voters and required the southern 
States to ratify the 14th Amendment; 
Whereas, upon taking control of New Orleans under the Re-
construction Act, General Sheridan dismissed Mayor 
Monroe for his role in the New Orleans Riots; 
Whereas discussion of the New Orleans Riots was a signifi-
cant driver of and a major part of the congressional de-
bate about the First Reconstruction Act; 
Whereas a number of historians have asserted that the bru-
tality and horror of the New Orleans Riots of 1866 gave 
impetus to the passage of the Reconstruction Acts, and 
ultimately ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments; 
and 
Whereas the New Orleans Riots were just a small part of a 
broader campaign of violence designed to prevent Black 
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•HRES 1359 IH 
Americans from having their right to vote recognized: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the actions of the White su-
premacist mob that massacred voting rights orga-
nizers in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 30, 1866; 
(2) honors the memory of the victims and ac-
knowledges the lasting impact that this incident has 
had on the Black community of New Orleans, Lou-
isiana; 
(3) recognizes that the Federal legislation cata-
lyzed by the New Orleans Riots, including the Re-
construction Act, the 14th Amendment, and the 
15th Amendment, are centerpieces of the United 
States attempt at inclusive, accessible, multiracial 
democracy; 
(4) recognizes that the goals of the legislation 
catalyzed by the New Orleans Riots are still unreal-
ized, and reaffirms the commitment of the Federal 
Government to the goals of meaningful universal 
voting rights held by the Convention delegates and 
their supporters; 
(5) expresses support for the designation of a 
national day of remembrance for the victims of the 
campaign of violence that attempted to deny the 
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right to vote of Black Americans throughout United 
States history; and 
(6) reaffirms the commitment of the Federal 
Government to combat White supremacy and seek 
reconciliation for racial injustice. 
Æ 
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