The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923 Page: 131
324 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Indian Policy of the Republic of Texas
heretofore unknown, and which we hope, by proper vigilance and
activity, to render as permanent as beneficial.
He urged Congress to push a vigorous war against the Indians,
"pursuing them to their hiding-places, without mitigation or com-
passion, until they shall be made to feel that flight from our bor-
ders, without the hope of return, is preferable to the scourges of
war."2
Lamar did not believe it possible for the Indians and the Amer-
ican settlers to live side by side on friendly terms. He advocated
the removal beyond the territorial limits of the Republic of "every
Indian tribe which had no rightful claim to reside in Texas."3
If any Indians could establish a just claim to land, they might
remain but must become subject to the laws of Texas.
II. ACTs PROVIDING FOR OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE MEASURES
AGAINST THE INDIANS
Lamar's advocacy of a stern and unrelenting Indian policy was
evidently in accord with the idea of the majority in Congress, be-
cause laws embodying his plans were soon passed.
The regular session of the Third Congress assembled at Hous-
ton, November 5, 1838, and adjourned January 24, 1839. The
new Indian policy was not advocated by the President only, but
received the support of G. W. Bonnell, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs. In November he made a report to Congress in which he
stated that a treaty with the Indians was worth nothing unless
it was preceded by a good chastising, and that the suffering on
the frontier had been great enough to justify the immediate adop-
tion of such measures. He recommended that a sufficient force of
mounted men be raised as quickly as possible to march into their
territory, to attack their villages and make them feel the horrors
of war until they would welcome peace on any terms.4 The House
Committee on Indian Affairs reported January 9, 1839. It vividly
brought out the impossibility of continuing the "temporizing pol-
2Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 280-281.
"Manuscript: "M. B. Lamar to Citizens of Liberty County near the
.Cushattee Towns and Villages," July 9, 1839. Indian Affairs, Texas State
Library.
4Reports of the United States Senate, 30 Congress, 1 Session, No. 171,
38-50.131
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923, periodical, 1923; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101084/m1/137/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.