He is often recounted as believing that the Native Americans aren't even human (Sound familiar? 37 Brian Tierney, The Idea of Natural Rights, 285; Cornish, Paul J., Spanish Thomism and the American Indians, in Difference and Dissent: Theories of Tolerance in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. Poole, Stafford (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1999), 47.Google Scholar, 28 Bell, A. F. G., Juan Gins de Seplveda (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1925).Google Scholar. By 1512, Las Casas became one of the first ordained priest in the Americas. Las Casas, Sepulvedaand the Great Debate. Citing the Bible and canon law, Las Casas responded, All the World is Human! He contradicted Sepulvedas assertions that the Indians were barbarous, that they committed crimes against natural law, that they oppressed and killed innocent people, and that wars should be waged against infidels. If Bartolom de Las Casas was alive today, to which current people might he direct his concern and attention? Although they were far from an industrialized city, this attitude seems more civil-like than the Western settlers. The Spanish explorer Bartolome de Las Casas and humanist Juan Gins de Seplveda had differing beliefs upon how Natives within the Americas should be converted to Christianity and how they should be treated once their land was colonized. The morality of conquest, imposing of Christianity and if it should be violent or peaceful, Encomienda/ Kept the rights of Indians in Spanish minds, Allowed the Spanish to gain free labor from Indians, Proposed that Indians be given a chance to convert to Christianity before war/enslavement, Las Casas saw no end to Spanish conquest, Sepulveda did not see the encomienda system strengthen as Las Casas continued to be a defender of the Indians, Glencoe Language Arts: Grammar and Language Workbook, Grade 9, Harold Levine, Norman Levine, Robert T. Levine, Vocabulary for Achievement: Fourth Course, Vocabulary for Achievement: Second Course. 33 (1991): 14762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar. I $\underline{\text{tossed}}$ my coat $\underline{\hspace{4cm}}$. Both men shared that common goal and advocated for it heavily, but Las Casas and Sepulveda did not agree upon the method in which the Natives should be converted to Christianity. Only when this supremacy is assured will justice, the highest expression of the Christian political ethic, become an attainable goal. Losada, Angel (Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Politicos, 1966), 19899; my translation.Google Scholar. However, Juan Gines de Sepulveda supported the belief that Natives were inferior and needed to be colonized, However, other beliefs they held were the complete opposite of the other. 7. How are bartolome de Las Casa's views of the Indians different from those of Sepulveda Las Casa believes the Indians are not barbaric and rather and more intelligent than we give them credit for. The debates at Valladolid in 155051 between Las Casas and Seplveda, arguing their conceptions of the human, can shed light on how and why arguments for inequality creep back into the modern discourse on alterity. To that debate Seplveda brought a humanist's training and outlook anchored in his devotion to Aristotle, but strongly tempered by his attachment to Saint Augustine. Las Casas came to Hispaniola, in the Caribbean, in 1502 with a land grant, ready to seek his fortune. 32 Las Casas managed to convinced the theologians at Valladolid that the Spanish policy was unjust and had to change. `` and Blood the! Educated in Italy, disciple of Pomponazzi, translator of Aristotle, chronicler of the Emperor and mentor of his son Philip, Seplveda is best knownand often misunderstood as the defender of the more unsavory aspects of the Spanish conquest and colonization in Americafor his bitter controversy with Bartolom de las Casas. Open Document. The Conquistadors believed that the little men they encountered were inhumane in that for purposes of sacrifice the Indians killed their own people by taking out their hearts and placing them on alters. 1, p. 149.Google Scholar See also Survivors found sanctuary in Santa Fe and were let go after being kept as captives, How did the Spanish treat the pueblos differently when they later reconquered the area, The Spanish were more tolerant with the natives, How are bartolome de Las Casa's views of the Indians different from those of Sepulveda, Las Casa believes the Indians are not barbaric and rather and more intelligent than we give them credit for. The authorities that the Spaniards relied on were the bible, the church and the beliefs of their King. Marcos, T. Andrs, Los imperialismos. Don Fray Bartolome de Las Casas disagreed with Juan Gines de Sepulvedas argument in many ways. Seplveda, a humanist lawyer born in 1490, was an important figure in the court of Charles V where he served as the Emperor's chaplain and his official historian. In 1544, Seplveda wrote Democrates Alter (or, on the Just Causes for War Against the Indians). Fourth, the Spanish found it imperative that they provide protection of weaker Indians who were subject to human sacrifice and cannibalism. Sepulveda rationalized Spanish treatment of American Indians by arguing that Indians were "natural slaves" and that Spanish presence in the New World would benefit them. They were urged to flee and many were seized by the Spanish. In light of his training and the expectations of his superiors, why was Las Casas taking a very risky stand in supporting the American Indians? 20. But it must be understood that this is not proposed for the benefit of the Indians alone. Sepulveda rationalized Spanish treatment of American Indians by arguing that Indians were "natural slaves" and that Spanish presence in the New World would benefit them. Ibid., 19, 22. Mechanics and laborers are not citizens; they may be de-scribed as necessary conditions of the state. Mcllwain, C. H., The Growth of Political Thought in the West (New York, 1932), pp. 3 When discussing in his Tractado de Repblica the obedience that the citizens owe their king, Castrillo cites Book XIX, Chapter 15, of the City of God, where Saint Augustine writes on mans freedom and servitude; and he interprets the passage as explaining the origin of political authority and translates the key word servitutis as servidumbre. So from there on, once the Europeans got to the New World, that was their main goal. Bell, A.F.G., Juan Gins de Seplveda (Oxford, 1925)Google Scholar; Losada, Angel (Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispanica, 1966), 234;Google Scholar my translation. Sepulveda argued against Las Casas on behalf of the colonists property rights. For the Natives it was unreasonable for excess clothing to be worn given the climate, but because the Spanish believed only their version of society was right, the Spaniards forced the Natives to change to adapt to their way of life. Most Europeans believed that those who did not observe the Christian faith were brutes and that they were dumb, but Cortez believed that the Natives were men and they wanted to be converted so they should not be treated harshly (Doc 6). Febvre, L., Le problme de lincroyance au XVle, sicle: La religion de Rabelais (Paris, 1947).Google Scholar, 34 What happened to the hundreds of de Vaca's Indian followers when he neared Mexico City? The Spaniards believed that they had a right to rule over the Indians and they had justification for war against them. and trans. Type Research Article Information ), at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2010/entries/colonialism/ Simn Calle Department of Music, Columbia University, Las Casas, Seplveda, and Vitoria lived during the first decades of the conquest of the Americas and consolidation of the Spanish Empire. The political nature of the relationship binding Indian and Spaniard is again stressed when, in the context of the just war, Seplveda likens the dominion of Spaniards over Indians to the imperium of the Romans over all the other peoples. Ibid., 31 et sqq. We pay our respects to their ancestors, elders and emerging leaders and extend our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from all nations The significance of the argument of religion was to form a way of life that was seen as a compromise to both sides, the Spaniards and the Indians. Another disadvantage for the Native Americans was that they were still weak. Nonetheless, as Brian Tierney states: In the end, all the writings on behalf of the Indians did little or nothing to ameliorate their plight. 29 Fernndez-Santamaria, Juan Gins de Seplveda, 450. Masters and slaves are fellow men and by the grace of God may become brothers in Christ, equal before God though necessarily unequal under human law while sojourners in this earthly city. Las Casas relied upon the church and God to justify his beliefs. Although human sacrifice is evil, Las Casas declares that indiscriminate warfare is more evil. I believe Native Americans were civilized. Due to Sepulvedas belief in that Aristotelian doctrine, he advocated for Natives being converted quickly and by all means necessary regardless of how brutal those methods could be. In time, when the Indians have mended their ways and adopted the Christian re-ligion, their governance, mixture of paternal and herile authority, shall give way to a freer and more liberal treatment. Ibid., 120. The argument of Juan Gines de Sepulveda is that of negative feedback to what was experienced in the first encounter of the Spaniards and American Indians in the Sixteenth Century. Many Spaniard missionaries sent to the New World, including Las Casas, noticed and denounced the brutal exploitation of Indians by encomenderos, and their lack of commitment in evangelization. 37 4 (1998): 14356;CrossRefGoogle ScholarParekh, Bhikhu, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000);Google ScholarJanara, Laura, Brothers and Others: Tocqueville and Beaumont, U.S. Genealogy, Democracy, and Racism, Political Theory 32, no. 6. Deane, H. A., The Political and Social Ideas of Saint Augustine (New York, 1966).Google Scholar. Held in the Colegio de San Gregorio, in the Spanish city of Valladolid, it was a moral and theological debate about the conquest of the Americas, its justification for the conversion to Catholicism, and more specifically about . On the problem of expressing sixteenth-century ideas in Latin see They just needed a little help and guidance from the Europeans. Fourthly, to open the way to the propagation of the Christian faith, and to facilitate the task of its preachers. Ibid., 8393. La qual question se ventilo y disputo en presencia de muchos letrados theologos y juristas en una congregacion que mando su magestad juntar el ao de mil y quinientos y cincuenta en la villa de Valladolid. By 1492, Isabella of Castile and her husband Ferdinand of Aragn had set the foundations for the unification of the several kingdoms that would later conform Spain. This tract, a summary of a debate concerning the subjugation of Indians, contains the arguments of Bartolom de Las Casas, the Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, and Juan Gines Sepulveda, an influential Spanish philosopher, concerning the treatment of American Indians in the New World. He claimed that the Indians had no ruler, and no laws, so any civilized man could legitimately appropriate them. This goes against all of the Conquistadors beliefs in Christianity and the faith they contain in God. Discuss how the root -*voc*- influences the meaning of the word *equivocate*. As soon as the Spaniards discovered the New world and realized that is was inhabited by non-Christian people that they considered to be barbarians, they began to debate the use of military force to control the new land, and the conversion of the indigenous population. Some of the natives didnt have a problem with this, They showed the same readiness to comply with Cortess wishes when he desired them to do away with their diols and human sacrifices (Castillo pg., When the land was received, the settlers wanted control over the Indians and had attempted to convert Indians to Christianity (After the Mayflower). 44 2014. My opinion is supported by the experiences that many people encountered when they came in contact with the Indians. Forced conversion as can be seen above was both agreed upon and disagreed upon. Miguel Leon Portilla (Boston: Beacon Books, 1992), 14549; Le Clezio, J. M. G., The Mexican Dream: Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009).Google Scholar, 45 de Gain, Phillipe, L'influence de Las Casas dans l'Essai sur les Moeurs de Voltaire, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, no. Sepulveda thought that the Indians were uneducated individuals that were uncivilized in the way they conducted their lives. Want to add some juice to your work? We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. This tract, a summary of a debate concerning the subjugation of Indians, contains the arguments of Bartolom de Las Casas, the Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, and Juan Gines Sepulveda, an influential Spanish philosopher, concerning the treatment of American Indians in the New World. In fact the conversion of Natives was a big deal to the conquerors, Making them Christian was the highest priority (Deak). 42 Brown, Tolerance As/In Civilizational Discourse, 431. Barker, E., The Politics of Aristotle (Oxford, 1946), p. 107.Google Scholar. Delete ( ) unnecessary commas.\ 36 Nederman, Worlds of Difference, 11314. by Ronald A. Barnett. Because of the salience of moral egalitarianism, Modernity entails a political link to the concept of universal human rights, and thus subsequently to liberalism and democracy. 47 De Pauw, , Recherches philosophiques sur les Amricains (Cleves, 1772), 1:168Google Scholar. In that year of 1500, the King determined to send a new governor to Hispaniola. In 1550, Las Casas debated in Valladolid his views on the American Indians with Juan Gins de Seplveda in front of the Spanish court. The selection that follows is not a transcript of the debate at Valladolid Has data issue: true ), at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2010/entries/colonialism/ Other Resources: Bartolome de Las Casas at http://www.lascasas.org Benjamin Keen, The Legacy of Bartolom de Las Casas at http://www.roebuckclasses.com/201/conquest/legacylascasaskeen.htm Simn Calle Department of Music, Columbia University, Columbia University in the City of New York, 208 Hamilton HallMail Code 28051130 Amsterdam AvenueNew York, NY 10027, 2023 Columbia University | Privacy Policy | Notice of Non-Discrimination | Terms of Use | Accessibility | University Home Page, Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, A Committee for the Second Century of the Core, Democrates Alter; Or, On the Just Causes for War Against the Indians, http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2010/entries/colonialism/, http://www.roebuckclasses.com/201/conquest/legacylascasaskeen.htm, Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement, Eric H. 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what ideas did sepulveda and de las casas share