The "city of six flags" will now become the city of one.

Local lawmakers agreed Tuesday to take all flags off the city seal, leaving on the flag of the United States and the emblem. Six Mobile City Council members voted to approve the measure after an hours-long debate and comments from the public about the true meaning of the Confederate flag.

This was not the city's first foray into the politics of history, but the slaying of 9 churchgoers in Charleston, S.C. has given fresh energy to the conversation in recent weeks. Council members Levon Manzie, Fred Richardson and C.J. Small put forth the proposed changes to the city ordinance that would have replaced the third national flag with the one for the state of Alabama.

A majority of the councilors agreed to amend that piece of legislation to rid the seal of all flags instead save for the American flag. Councilwoman Bess Rich proposed an amendment that would have swapped the third national Confederate flag out for the first national, but that amendment failed 2-5 when councilors voted.

The vote didn't come without a number of opinions from local residents, both for and against the idea. If recent history was a barometer, the issue was expected to be a divisive one. The last time the city agreed to change the seal 10 years ago, removing the Confederate Battle flag, there were protests in the weeks leading up to the vote.

Public comments offered Tuesday leaned toward collegial declarations.

The Confederate "flag is a symbol of divisiveness," said the Reverend Milton Saffold of Stone Street Baptist Church, adding, "We're not one Mobile if a symbol divides us."

During the pre-conference meeting, Rich said she was more inclined to retain the six flags "good, bad or indifferent" to preserve the historical element. She was a member of the council when the issue was debated in 2000 and ended in a compromise of sorts. Rich abstained from the final vote on the legislation.

"By looking at what happened in 2000 where there was a cry to get rid of the battle flag, and rightfully so because the battle flag historically did not fly over our city hall and it was decided that the third national flag which was the last flag of the Confederacy would be hoisted up there," Rich said.

"Unfortunately today with the image of the battle flag still on that flag that is the hot button issue, because it has been used for hate. I don't deny that. But in order to keep a focus on what is a sense of history and the fabric that's woven through all of us..."

Richardson said the flag's presence on the current seal is a matter that should be viewed through a historical lens. In 1960s, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of school integration and other civil rights cases, the became a symbol of resistance, Richardson said. "The whole sentiment throughout the South was that this will not happen."

Mobile's three commissioners changed the seal in 1961, he said. "The city commission felt like they should do something and they put the flag on our seal."

Update: This report was updated on July 7, 2014 at 5:33 p.m. with comments from the meeting.