The New Orleans City Council voted 6 to 1 to remove four Confederate monuments after a heated monthslong debate, declaring the Civil War-era statues and an obelisk to be “public nuisances.”

Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for the monuments’ removal this summer.

“We, the people of New Orleans, have the power and we have the right to correct these historical wrongs,” Mr. Landrieu said before the council vote. He suggested the monuments be placed in a museum or Civil War park.

The monuments include a bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in a traffic circle, named Lee Circle, in the city’s central business district since 1884, and an obelisk in the French Quarter to recognize the Battle of Liberty Place. The City Council also voted to remove statues of P.G.T. Beauregard, a Confederate general, and Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

The opposition to the monuments’ removal — in op-ed articles, social media posts and shouting at public meetings — was vigorous. Gov. Bobby Jindal wanted to keep the monuments, and a group opposing their removal said it had collected 31,000 signatures for a petition.