Thirty-Eighth Congress of the United States

Date Span
March 4, 1863 - March 4, 1865
    Date Event
    In Washington, the Senate votes to strike down the color bar on railroad cars in the District of Columbia
    - The first session of the 38th Congress is sitting in Washington, DC
    The first session of the 38th Congress adjourns for a two-week holiday recess
    - The first session of the 38th Congress is in a two-week holiday recess until January 6, 1864
    In Washington, the U.S. Senate begins the process of enabling the statehood of the Nevada Territory
    In the Senate, a Kentucky senator proposes the immediate discharging of all African-American troops
    In the U.S. Senate. Kentuckian Garrett Davis proposes combining six New England states into just two.
    In Washington, President Lincoln signs the bill enabling the statehood of the Nevada Territory
    In Washington, the U.S. Senate passes the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution, 38-6.
    In Congress, Representative Harris of Maryland is immediately censured for disloyal comments in debate
    In Congress, Representative Long of Ohio is censured for suggesting the recognition of the Confederacy
    The House of Representatives passes the Wade-Davis Bill setting radical requirements for Reconstruction
    At the U.S. Capitol, debate begins in the House on the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution
    The U.S. Congress funds "separate but equal" schools for black children in the District of Columbia
    At the U.S. Capitol, the vote in the House on the proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution fails
    In Washington D.C., the U.S. Senate votes to repeal all remaining Federal Fugitive Slave Acts
    The U.S. Senate votes to ban exclusion from testifying in United States courts on grounds of race
    The House of Representatives upholds Senate on banning exclusion from U.S. courts on grounds of race
    The U.S. Congress passes the Wade-Davis Bill that sets radical requirements for Reconstruction
    In a proclamation, President Lincoln explains why he refuses to sign the Wade-Davis Bill on Reconstruction
    In Washington D.C., the House of Representatives passes the Thirteen Amendment outlawing slavery
    The 38th Congress comes to the end of its term in Washington DC
    In Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, recently retired Congressman James Tracy Hale dies of typhoid
    The Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery is announced as now the law of the land.
    Moses Odell, influential New York Democrat and friend of Abraham Lincoln, dies of cancer in Brooklyn.
    How to Cite This Page: "Thirty-Eighth Congress of the United States," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/42282.