[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 106 (Thursday, July 9, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H4966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I would like, first of all, to thank the 
Speaker of this House and the other Members who came to Charleston last 
month to help us with the ongoing ceremonies for Senator Clementa 
Pinckney.
  I would also like to thank especially my colleagues--Senator Tim 
Scott, Senator Lindsey Graham, and Congressman Mark Sanford--for 
joining with us as we stood with the Governor of South Carolina and 
called for removing the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the 
statehouse.
  This afternoon, at 4 o'clock, as a result of a very definitive vote 
early this morning of 94-20, the Governor is going to sign the bill, 
and tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock, the flag will be removed from the 
statehouse.
  I regret that I am not going to be able to accept the Governor's 
invitation and be there this afternoon because, around 4 o'clock this 
afternoon, we are going to be voting here on this floor.
  I understand there will be around 25 votes, and 24 of them, I might 
not feel all that bad about missing, but one of them, I cannot afford 
to miss because that one vote, the Calvert amendment, will reverse 
votes taken by this body to join with South Carolina, Alabama, and 
activities going on in Mississippi to get rid of any official 
application to this flag, the Confederate battle flag.
  Now, I think it is important for us to point out that this is not the 
Confederate flag. The Confederacy had three flags. This was never one 
of them. This flag was the Confederate battle flag of the Army of 
Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee's Army; and when Robert E. Lee 
surrendered at Appomattox, he asked all of his followers to furl this 
flag.
  ``Store it away,'' he said. ``Put it in your attics.'' He refused to 
be buried in his Confederate uniform. His family refused to allow 
anyone dressed in the Confederate uniform to attend his funeral. Why? 
It is because Robert E. Lee said he considered this emblem to be a 
symbol of treason; yet, Mr. Speaker, Calvert puts up an amendment that 
we are going to vote on this afternoon to ask us to allow this flag to 
be sold and displayed in our national parks.
  I was so proud when the decision was made by the National Park 
Service, Fort Sumter, a national park where the Civil War started off 
the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, they decided to take away all 
of these symbols; but the Calvert amendment is saying: No, don't take 
them away, put them back, and we are going to ratify the action to do 
so.
  Mr. Speaker, I call upon all of my colleagues who come to this floor 
this afternoon to remember that it was on this date in 1868 that South 
Carolina--where it all started--South Carolina was the State that gave 
the votes necessary to ratify the 14th Amendment.
  To me, this was a very, very important amendment calling for due 
process and equal protection of the laws.

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