The Indies Mission Theory

The Law of the Indies was originally the Council of Indies which was established in the early 1570s by regulations. Eventually organized in the 1680s to create the Law of Indies. The goal of the Law of the Indies was to integrate and interact of church and state society. The two societies were to coexist and support both the ecclesiastical and secular growth of the colonist in New Spain. The Spanish were able to put as far north as Santa Fe under the Law of the Indies. Under these laws as well was their mission theory was to evangelize and introduce the natives into a secular society. In theory this goal was to be reached by missions closing “and replaced by a diocesan parish structure staffed by secular clergy under the control of a local …show more content…
The Jesuits had a very different mission theory that severely conflicted with the mission of the Law of the Indies. The Jesuits where about adaption of Catholicism and preserving the culture they were ministering to. This presented the problem to the secular view that power of the Jesuits could grow to strong. As time did go on the Jesuits received permission to extend even further north than the viceroy had been able. The Jesuits were also able to conduct their missions in their own fashion with little to no intervention from the viceroy nor did they report to them. This sovereignty that they had caused much resentment in both the state and church, but they were able to last with no intervention for seventy years. The Jesuits were able to protect the Natives form exploration and culture destruction during their peak of power. Unfortunately, by the 1760s there was many that were becoming increasingly suspicious that the Jesuits were to powerful. During the reign of Carlos III there was a demand for reform and expansion of the empire. This expansion meant that the Jesuits mission theory was no longer safe in the empire. The empire decided to banish and exile the Jesuits and seize their lands that they had been using for their