Thirty-Eighth Congress of the United States

Scenes in the House of Representatives on passage of Thirteenth Amendment, January 31, 1865, artist's impression, detail

Date Span:

March 4, 1863 - March 4, 1865

Tabs

Events

Date	Event
03/17/1863	In Washington, the Senate votes to strike down the color bar on railroad cars in the District of Columbia
12/08/1863 to 12/21/1863	The first session of the 38th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC
12/22/1863	The first session of the 38th Congress adjourns for a two-week holiday recess
12/23/1863 to 01/05/1864	The first session of the 38th Congress is in a two-week holiday recess until January 6, 1864
02/08/1864	In Washington, the U.S. Senate begins the process of enabling the statehood of the Nevada Territory
02/23/1864	In the Senate, a Kentucky senator proposes the immediate discharging of all African-American troops
03/03/1864	In the U.S. Senate. Kentuckian Garrett Davis proposes combining six New England states into just two.
03/21/1864	In Washington, President Lincoln signs the bill enabling the statehood of the Nevada Territory
04/08/1864	In Washington, the U.S. Senate passes the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution, 38-6.
04/09/1864	In Congress, Representative Harris of Maryland is immediately censured for disloyal comments in debate
04/14/1864	In Congress, Representative Long of Ohio is censured for suggesting the recognition of the Confederacy
05/04/1864	The House of Representatives passes the Wade-Davis Bill setting radical requirements for Reconstruction
05/31/1864	At the U.S. Capitol, debate begins in the House on the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution
06/08/1864	The U.S. Congress funds "separate but equal" schools for black children in the District of Columbia
06/15/1864	At the U.S. Capitol, the vote in the House on the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution fails
06/23/1864	In Washington D.C., the U.S. Senate votes to repeal all remaining Federal Fugitive Slave Acts
06/25/1864	The U.S. Senate votes to ban exclusion from testifying in United States courts on grounds of race
06/29/1864	The House of Representatives upholds Senate on banning exclusion from U.S. courts on grounds of race
07/02/1864	The U.S. Congress passes the Wade-Davis Bill that sets radical requirements for Reconstruction
07/08/1864	In a proclamation, President Lincoln explains why he refuses to sign the Wade-Davis Bill on Reconstruction
01/31/1865	In Washington D.C., the House of Representatives passes the Thirteen Amendment outlawing slavery
03/03/1865	The 38th Congress comes to the end of its term in Washington DC
04/06/1865	In Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, recently retired Congressman James Tracy Hale dies of typhoid
12/18/1865	The Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery is announced as now the law of the land.
06/13/1866	Moses Odell, influential New York Democrat and friend of Abraham Lincoln, dies of cancer in Brooklyn.