Las Casas and Sepulveda

The question of Spanish responsibility for and over the people of The New World raised theological, political, and philosophical discussion and debate—most notably between Juan Gines de Sepulveda (1490-1573), a Spanish humanist scholar who had never visited The New World, and Bartolome de las Casas (1474-1566), who himself had been an early Spanish Resident in the Americas. Their Debate at the Council of Valladolid (1550-51) exposed stark differences in their opinions of Spanish responsibility to the natives. Where Las Casas argued that the Indians were inherently good, Sepulveda presumed that they were barbaric, and barely human. Thus, Sepuveda argued, the Spanish had made a "Just War", because the Indians were truly less than human. But, while Sepulveda's opinion was based upon the writings of classical authors like Aristotle, it was Las Casas who had based his opinion on personal experiences, and was

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Approximate Word count = 787
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)