Summary Of Bartolome De Las Casas

Paper 1 Draft Judith Sargent Murray asks, “Is it upon mature consideration we adopt the idea that nature is thus partial in her distributions?”. Are certain people born better than others, or are all humans created equal? I believe everyone should be treated the same, and no one man is born greater than the other. But, many people in earlier times would disagree. Slavery is a prime example of this, along with the way Native Americans were treated by Christian Spaniards expanding their territory. Bartolome de las Casas writes of his experiences in “The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies”. His writings reveal the disturbing truths of how Native Americans were treated by the Spanish Christians. De Las Casas exposes the torture

He was born in Sevilla Spain in 1498, to a merchant family. When he was nine his father and mother left Spain for the Americas, accompanying Christopher Columbus. During this time, Bartolome came to the conclusion that he would dedicate his life to being a priest. He studied at various schools, and when his father came back At the age of eighteen in 1502, he embarked on a trip to the Americas for the first time. This trip was the first time he witnessed the atrocities the Spanish committed to the American Indians. When he saw how the cruelly the Indians were being treated, this sparked a determination inside of him to defend them any way he could. Once he returned to Spain in 1506 he began writing of the things he saw in the New World. He wrote of how the Spanish abused the Native Americans, and these writings led him to be called “Protector Of the

He believed no human should be enslaved or treated the way the Indians were. The Spanish were giving themselves dominion over the Natives, and their cruelty turned Bartolome against them. Even though he was from Spain, he stood up for what was right. Defying his country must have been hard, but his courage made him easy to follow. He knew many Spanish people would disagree with the torture the Indians were experiencing, so he focused his efforts on putting their wrongs in the light. De las Casas uses deep emotion and sorrow in his writings in order to develop a sense of pity for the Native Americans. This strategy worked, and eventually led to more protection and equality for the Indians. He knew his audience, and made the most of the education he had, and the situation he was in. Also, I believe that these arguments and strategies would work today, as well as any time in the future. They target a good person’s emotions, and most are not able to deny the pity that builds up in them when reading his