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Name: Huynh Son Tha (Ancona, Spring 2021 – Midterm Exam)
A most compelling event in the history of Spain and humankind was the debate, before
the junta - a group of 14 theologians and specialists of cannon law acting as judges, of
Valladolid (1550-1551) between Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (1489– 1573) and Bartolomé
de Las Casas (1484-1566) to discuss the just cause of the war being waged by Spain in
America. The debate concerned the missionary conquest and the intellectual and
religious capacity of the American Indians. Sepúlveda portrayed the natives of the New
World as morally and intellectually deficient barbarians who lacked reasoning capacity,
and were incapable of self-government, hence they had to be subjected, if necessary
using forces is an option, to enslavement and conversion to Christianity. On the contrary,
Las Casas argued that the Indians were fully rational human beings who exhibited a high
degree of judgment and natural wisdom in their religious beliefs and political institutions.
Las Casas further argued that the Indians shouldn’t be compelled by force for their
Christian conversion. Both sides claimed victory at the end, but no official result existed.
To put in the context (main elements) for the debate, the religious and political motives
