AUSTIN — Joe Straus, the Republican speaker of the Texas House, on Tuesday called for an increasingly divisive Confederate plaque to be removed from the state Capitol building.

In a letter to the state board that oversees historical monuments at markers at the Texas Capitol, Straus requested the plaque be removed as soon as possible.

"The plaque says that the Civil War was not an act of rebellion and was not primarily about slavery. This is not accurate, and Texans are not well-served by incorrect information about our history," Straus, R-San Antonio, wrote to the State Preservation Board. "Those of us who serve on the State Preservation Board should direct staff to identify the steps necessary to remove this plaque as soon as practicable."

Straus also reiterated his calls for the "historical accuracy and context" of the Capitol's dozen or so other nods to the Civil War to be reviewed: "We have an obligation to all the people we serve to ensure that our history is described correctly, especially when it comes to a subject as painful as slavery."

1 / 6The "Children of the Confederacy Creed" plaque is on display at the Capitol in Austin.(Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman) 2 / 6The Confederate Soldiers Monument outside the Texas state capitol on Thursday, February 26, 2015 in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6The Terry's Texas Rangers monument outside the Texas state capitol on Thursday, February 26, 2015 in Austin, Texas. Terry's Texas Rangers was a group of Texas volunteers for the Confederate States Army assembled by Colonel Benjamin Franklin Terry. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6The Hood's Texas Brigade Monument outside the Texas state capitol on Thursday, February 26, 2015 in Austin, Texas. Commanded by General John Bell Hood, the Texas Brigade - also referred to as the Hood's Texas Brigade - was an infantry brigade in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6The John H. Reagan State Office Building near the Texas state capitol on Thursday, February 26, 2015 in Austin, Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6Tourists stride across the floor of the Capitol rotunda in Austin on Thursday, June 9, 2016. The floor depicts seals from the six powers that have at some point held control over Texas land, including the Confederate States of America.(Lauren McGaughy / Staff writer)

Straus issued his call for the plaque's removal after Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, asked the board to take it down last month. Johnson told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday that he was "thrilled" to hear about Straus' decision.

"I just have to applaud him for being such an honest and thoughtful leader and just doing the right thing here," Johnson said. "I'm confident it's coming down."

As speaker, Straus is the most prominent Republican and highest-ranking lawmaker to call for a serious conversation on the issue. Still, it's unclear where his request will lead. While the Preservation Board has the power to alter state-owned property, this particular plaque was erected through a legislative resolution and may require lawmakers to approve its removal.

The plaque was erected during the height of the civil rights movement in 1959 by a group called the Children of the Confederacy and features the group's "creed," which denies that the desire to perpetuate slavery was an "underlying cause" of the Civil War. This statement directly contradicts Texas' reasons for secession, which included "the unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery."

Gov. Greg Abbott, who also sits on the preservation board, agreed to sit down with Johnson soon after his original request, but their meeting was delayed because of Hurricane Harvey. The meeting has not been rescheduled.

In his first letter, Johnson called the plaque a piece of "counterfactual propaganda" that better belonged in a landfill than outside his Capitol office. He also asked for a conversation about all of the Capitol's more than one dozen nods to the Civil War.

This same incident led to the removal of several other Confederate monuments from around Texas and the nation. The Robert E. Lee statue in Dallas was removed just last week, and several schools in the area named for Confederate leaders are considering changes. The University of Texas at Austin has removed a handful of Confederate statues from campus, but Texas A&M said it will not take down a statue of former university head, Texas governor and Confederate general Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross.

A few weeks later, two more lawmakers also asked for a review of the monuments. All three cited the deadly racial clashes in Charlottesville, Va., which were sparked by the intention to remove a statue of Lee, as a prime motivation in their requests.

The Confederate monuments at the Capitol have been a source of consternation for black Democrats such as Johnson for decades. The last time a review of the monuments was requested was more than two years ago, just after the racially motivated murders of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C.