Also Las Casas was an advocate for the Amerindians…
In document number 2, Bartolome seems sincere in his belief that the Indians should be Christianized. An example of this in the reading is, “The Indians are our brothers, and Christ has given his life for them.” Unlike Sepulveda, he believed that the Indians have a choice in becoming Christian. He views the Indians as “…not ignorant, inhuman, or bestial.” and “…they are easy to teach and very talented…”…
Also, because the Amerindians were a simpler people than the Spanish, divine law dictated that the Spanish had the right to subject them to Spanish rule. Leopold and Las Casas himself argued that while the ostensible aim of the war had been the conversion of the Amerindians, the true aim had been the accumulation of wealth by greedy men, a dishonorable intention, and the treatment of the natives had been abhorrent; therefore, the war had not been justifiable in any way and had instead been against the laws of God. In Democrates, Leopold argued that any war was unlawful, especially one against innocent people who had never been exposed to the word of God. Indeed, according to Las Cases, because the Amerindians were declared by the Pope to be citizens of Castile, waging war against them had been as unlawful as waging war against the citizens of Seville (41). Leopold concluded the proceedings of the Spanish against the Amerindians had been more of a theft than a war and the Spanish should restore all they had taken, a sentiment Las Casas would most certainly have agreed…
I think de Las Casas wrote this to show that how cruel the Spaniards are and how inhumanly they treat the Indians. It has the power to remind people of what the history is. What happened before is extremely cruel and it shouldn’t happen in our future. For the question who was de Las Casas writing this for, he didn’t address anyone’s name in the article, so the person is unclear. However, I think de Las Casas might write for those Spaniards he mentioned in the article because in the second half of the article, he lists those cruel behavior that the Spaniards did to the Indians.…
Juan Gines de Sepulveda - A Spanish theologian and philosopher, he was tasked by Charles V to argue against Casas’ assertions. He was practically the foil of Casa because he argued that the Spanish conquest and treatment of the Natives was justified because the Natives were inferior to that of the white man. Chapter 1 Agree/Disagree Statements 1. The native populations of Mexico and the American Southwest developed successful societies due to their reliance on hunting and gathering. Agree -…
The Spanish, French, and Dutch colonies in North America all interacted with the Native Americans during the 16th century. Spain’s extreme subjugating approach and views on freedom and religion differed from the accepting and collaborative views of the French and the Dutch. Although the French and Dutch had apparent positive approaches compared to Spain, oppression of the Native Americans occurred under the control of all three colonies. The Spanish were the first to colonize North America and their approach lacked moral compass.…
From the onset, the United States produced great thinkers who have encouraged resistance against illegitimate authority and inspired generations of American leaders to take action. American born philosophers including Jefferson, Thoreau, Melville, and Douglas, in addition to immigrant thinkers among others Thomas Pain, exposed tyranny, despotism, abuse of authority, and paved the way for the American people to fight for their natural rights. At times, the need for resistance came in the form of detachment from the despotic and tyrannical abuses of the mother land. Other times, minorities stood up and fought for their rights to equality, as exampled by the fight against the grotesque institution of slavery –– which subjugated the Negro by law, to women’s fight for the franchise. These thinkers inspired revolt against irrational authority with the theme of resistance, by ringing the bell of freedom against the oppressor.…
“The Road to the Stono Rebellion” On September 9,1739, one of the most prominent uprising against white slave owners in the history of colonial America had occurred. Led by Jemmy, an Angolan, twenty other slaves had gathered on this day near the Stono River, where they planned on revolting against slave masters. Marching to Charlestown, approximately 20 miles from Stono, they had killed more than 20 slave owners. The rebels headed towards Florida, where Signs of “Liberty” had been carried by the rebels, where they were singing, beating drums and were recruiting more slaves. However the slaves’ revolt had not been successful as the amount black slaves killed was twice as the amount of whites killed.…
In Thomas Paine’s African Slavery in America essay, he speaks on slavery in America. Paine discusses that African Americans were peaceful and the Americans came to enslave them. The Americans were “Christians”, and yet were doing inhumane things to the innocent slaves. The Americans had no permission to catch and enslave people who never injured them. Thomas Paine, born February 9th 1737 was an American journalist and inventor.…
In general, slavery played a major part in American colonization and became the standard for all colonies and the African American slaves were heavily populated in the Northern and Southern colonies because of the Southern colonies had tobacco plantations and they needed laborers to work their land so, they can make a profit. In short, the Atlantic Slave Trade was established by the Spanish colonists in the Sixteenth century to help solve a need and because they were the most experience sea mariners during that time (Robin, Kelley, Lewis, 2005, p. 7). Therefore, slaves became the cheapest laborers in the colonies and this forced labor continue for centuries and some people of the colonies began to believe that this was the way of life. The…
However, after realizing the valuable profit of enslaving Native Americans, more indigenous groups were forced to succumb to this dehumanizing labor. Explorer, Christopher Columbus, boasted about the potential of wealth and economic benefits to his Spanish monarchs (Ojibwa). Overall, Europeans enslaved Native Americans that were war captives, eventually resulting in an increase of economic potential and overall…
Contrary to what the infamous Black Legend says, the Spanish conquistadors were not reckless murderers without direction. They had a purpose: colonization. They needed to employ these vicious tactics in order to efficiently fulfill this purpose. The Spanish conquistadors were trailblazers in the most literal sense of the term; for instance, explorer Hernando de Soto and his soldiers tortured, raped, enslaved, and killed countless Indians, destroying almost everything in their path (Mann 6). While it is true that the Spanish conquistadors mistreated the Indians they encountered, and that the encomienda system was essentially slavery, the Spanish weren’t the only Europeans who treated the natives callously.…
The Inhumane Use of African Americans During the Colonial Era In the early 1600’s the inhumane transporting and enslaving of African Americans in the American colonies began. Although the English settlers required agricultural labor during the Colonial Era, their use of the African American slaves was unjust. The English did not provide sufficient housing, clothing, or nutrition for the African American slaves, nor did the settlers have any regards for their families. The English also overworked the slaves and gave them brutal and inhumane punishments.…
In 1807, American congressmen ended the Atlantic slave trade, bringing America one step closer to abolishing slavery entirely. However, the Slave Trade Act of 1807 did little to slow slavery’s influence in America. The brand-new cotton gin revived the southern economy during the early 1800’s and intensified the flow of slavery into the west. As a result, slaves were regularly bought, sold, and transported throughout the Cotton Kingdom as desirable commodities, embodying and increasing the southerners’ wealth. Through the dehumanization of African-Americans, the monetary value assigned to slaves, and the mobility of the slave trade, it was evident that slavery was the business of trading people as commodities to further benefit the white…
Antonio Vazquez describes the volume and value of silver mining at the expense of the indigenous people and their harsh labor conditions through the mita system. De las Casas also witnessed the torture and killing of these people and, although he recognized their humanity, he believed the Spanish were not to bring anybody to Christianity by massacring them and that violence was rather barbaric and not God’s will. In contrast to de las Casas, Juan Ginés Sepúlveda argued on his writing that colonizing the “Indians” was moral and would not be condemned in the eyes of Christianity. He based his opinion on the believe that the Natives were “natural slaves” and irrational beasts who…