162 UNIT 2 COLONIAL MESOAMERICA
Charles V, troubled by the assertions of Las Casas and Vitoria, summoned a group
of theologians to present arguments on both sides of these issues. This famous de-
bate occurred at Valladolid, Spain, in 1550 and 1551. Las Casas was the spokesman
for the anticolonial side. His opponent was Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, a distinguished
theologian and historian. Sepúlveda based his arguments on the ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle’s theory of natural slavery. He claimed that the Indians were by
nature brutish and irrational and therefore inferior to Europeans. Not only did Eu-
ropeans have the right to conquer and enslave them, but also the Indians would ac-
tually benefit from their own subjection by being provided with superior behavioral
models. Las Casas countered that the Indians were fully rational, of equal or supe-
rior capacity to all other peoples. Since the judges of the debate did not leave a
record of their decision, we do not know who was considered the winner.
The pro-Indian movement, despite the stir it caused in Europe, did little to im-
prove the lot of native people in the colonies. Las Casas and his allies had some im-
pact on official Spanish policies, but these efforts to mollify the damage wrought byFigure 4.2 Illustration from Las Casas’s “Brief Relation on the Destruction of the Indies,”
Spanish edition, Seville, 1552. Source:Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown
University.