The Spanish Debate On The Americas

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Juan Ginés de Sepulveda, Bartolomé de las Casas, and

Francisco de Vitoria arguments pertaining to the settlement and

colonization of the native people of America, while presented in

different manors, are all the same. All three Spaniards believed

that the barbarians had to accept the rule of the Spanish because

the Spanish were mentally superior, and divine and natural laws

gave the Spanish the right to conquer and enslave the native

people of America.

The foundation for Spanish conquests was their

interpretation of the bible. Ironically, it was the teachings of

the bible they were all trying to bring to the newly found

infidels. Sepulveda stated that the Spanish conquests were

sanctioned in divine law itself, for it was written in the Book

of Proverbs that "'He who is stupid will serve the wise man.'"

In propositions one and two, Bartolomé de las Casas stated that

he believed that Jesus Christ had the authority and the power of

God himself over all men in the world, especially those who had

never heard the tidings of Christ nor of His faith. Las Casas

also stated in his second proposition that St. Peter and his

successors(that being missionaries located in the New World) had

the duty by the injunctions of God to teach the gospel and faith

of Jesus Christ to all men throughout the world. What is

interesting is that Las Casas thought that it was "unlikely that

anyone [would] resist the preaching of the gospel and the

Christian doctrine..." While being a bishop and a Dominican

missionary in the New World, he had the task of spreading the

holy faith, expanding the area covered by the teachings of the

universal Church(that being the Christian religion), and the

improvement of the natives' souls as his ultimate goal. As

stated in proposition ten however, the Indians sovereignty and

dignity and royal pre-eminence should not, in his belief

disappear either in fact or in right. "The only exceptions are

those infidels who maliciously obstruct the preaching of the

gospel... ." In proposition eleven though, he continues by

contradicting himself by saying that "He who persistently defends

it[that being the preaching of the missionaries] will fall into

formal heresy." Sepulveda also thought that if infidels

rejected the rule of Christianity, it could be imposed upon them

by force of arms. Sepulveda's justification for the use of force

was, after all, justified according to natural law, and that just

and natural noble people should rule over men who are not

"superior". War against the barbarians, according to Sepulveda,

was justified because of their paganism and also because of their

abominable licentiousness. Sepulveda and Las Casas both thought

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