Senate leaders removed the Confederate Flag from the U and S Capitol grounds Monday night.
The removal comes less than two weeks after President Donald Trump ordered the removal of the flag from federal property.
The decision came after a heated debate that saw a number of states and cities petitioning for the removal.
While the flag has been in the Capitol for nearly a century, its removal comes at a time when many Americans are increasingly rejecting the Confederacy.
A poll released last week by the Pew Research Center found that 70 percent of Americans now consider the flag to be offensive, and it remains the most disliked symbol in the country.
In a letter sent to the Senate last week, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said he would oppose any bill that would remove the flag.
“As the oldest flag in the world, the Confederate emblem is emblematic of a long-held, long-standing, deeply held, deeply flawed ideology that denies human dignity and denies equal protection under the law,” Flake wrote.
“It is not an appropriate symbol to represent the flag in our national capital, and removing it would do irreparable damage to our nation’s history, our values, and the way in which we honor our founding principles.”
Flake was one of a number Republican senators who voted against removing the flag on Monday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S., a South Carolina Republican, also said he wouldn’t support a bill that removes the flag, citing the fact that “the Confederacy was a racist group and that we cannot tolerate people who would put a flag that was once a symbol of hate and violence on the grounds of our nation.”
The removal of Confederate flags on the Capitol has become a hot topic in the wake of the deadly violence that unfolded last month in Charlottesville, Va.
The event marked the first time that a state-level official had officially removed the flag since the Civil War ended in 1865.
Flake said Monday that the Senate will consider other legislative options to remove or alter the flag if the House does not take action.
“If the House of Representatives does not act, we will consider another legislative option,” Flake said.