The Spanish Debate On The Americas :: essays research papers

Juan Ginà ©s de Sepulveda, Bartolomà © 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, Bartolomà © 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