Sepulveda Vs. Las Casa

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In the exert Sepulveda vs. Las Casa, the readers are first introduced to Sepulveda. Sepulveda makes a very strong case that he is okay with using Indians in slavery. Sepulveda starts by stating that Indians are incapable of learning, have no written language, and have no documents of history. He continues to follow this argument up by saying they are barbarians who have zero form of government and live without a sense of reason. Sepulveda also believes that the Indians are just blood thirsty cannibals who ate their enemies during war and offer no greater tribute to their god, the devil, than human hearts. Sepulveda states that these barbarians do display a certain talent of craftsmanship, but still have no proof of human intelligence. He continues …show more content…

Unlike Sepulveda, Las Casa argues that slavery is wrong. Las Casa comes right out in the first line and says, "Indians are so skilled in every mechanical art that with every right they should be far ahead of all the nations of the known world." Las Casa believes that these Indians are remarkably talented in grammar and logic because they have been brought up in it till now. Las Casa mentions that the Indians are capable of having a government and do not need to be ruled by others. He brings up a new point that these Indians once had their own civilization that was prosperous. Las Casa argues that they will embrace the teachings of the Gospel and would be better than most people in the world. Las Casa finishes by saying all men are equal and no one is born with knowledge. He uses a comparison between Indians and uncultivated soil that is useful, but within itself holds natural virtues that with work could become something …show more content…

My first thought when reading the exert was shock that Sepulveda could so strongly believe in the right of slavery. It surprised me that someone could talk so harshly about another human. After reading Sepulveda, it was refreshing to read Las Casa case. Sepulveda had made good points for his argument, however; I have to agree more with Las Casa. I think this is because Las Casa fought both sides. He still compared the Indians to barbarians but then directed his case right back to why they were good. I also think I was more influenced by Las Casa because I was always told that slavery was wrong growing up. I think it would be interesting to know background information on Sepulveda and Las Casa. This way I could better understand why each one has these feelings about Indians. From the way the writers wrote their cases, I would say that Sepulveda may have had an occurrence in the past with Indians that did not turn out good. This would explain why he made such harsh arguments but that is only something I can infer. Some questions that came to mind while reading are where are these writers from and what kind of social class did they come from. I think it would be interesting to see if the location affected their mind

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