PROJECTPLUM WOKE#

Mirabeau B. Lamar

1839

In December 1838, President Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar addressed the Congress of the Republic of Texas and set the tone for his administration with a stark declaration: conflict with Indigenous nations would admit “no termination except in their total extinction, or total expulsion.” This statement did not remain rhetorical. It established the framework within which subsequent policy would unfold.

By 1839, one of the first concrete measures following this address was a presidential call for volunteers to defend—and extend—the Texas frontier. Framed as a matter of protection, the appeal mobilized settlers and militia forces to occupy and secure territory beyond the Republic’s effective control. The language of defense thus operated alongside a broader strategy of expansion, in which the frontier itself was not fixed but continuously pushed outward.

This document marks an early transition from declaration to implementation. The call for volunteers translated ideological commitment into organized action, drawing civilian populations directly into the process of territorial consolidation. In doing so, it reveals how state policy, military mobilization, and settlement were closely aligned: protection of the frontier and expansion of the frontier became indistinguishable.

Read alongside Lamar’s inaugural address, the document demonstrates how a stated objective—removal or elimination—began to take institutional form through legislation, recruitment, and coordinated movement across contested land.

Source

Archives and Information Services Division

Texas State Library and Archives Commission

tsl.texas.gov/treasures/giants/lamar/

lamar-frontier-1.html