Editing Bartolomé de las Casas (section)

=== The Valladolid debate ===
{{main|Valladolid debate}}
[[File:Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda]], Las Casas's opponent in the [[Valladolid debate]]]]
Las Casas returned to Spain, leaving behind many conflicts and unresolved issues. Arriving in Spain he was met by a barrage of accusations, many of them based on his Confesionario and its 12 rules, which many of his opponents found to be in essence a denial of the legitimacy of Spanish rule of its colonies, and hence a form of [[treason]]. The Crown had for example received a fifth of the large number of slaves taken in the recent [[Mixtón War]], and so could not be held clean of guilt under Las Casas's strict rules. In 1548, the Crown decreed that all copies of Las Casas's Confesionario be burnt, and his Franciscan adversary, Motolinia, obliged and sent back a report to Spain. Las Casas defended himself by writing two treatises on the "Just Title" – arguing that the only legality with which the Spaniards could claim titles over realms in the New World was through peaceful proselytizing. All warfare was illegal and unjust and only through the papal mandate of peacefully bringing Christianity to heathen peoples could "Just Titles" be acquired.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|pp=170–174}}</ref>

As a part of Las Casas's defense by offense, he had to argue against [[Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda]]. Sepúlveda was a doctor of theology and law who, in his book ''Democrates Alter, sive de justis causis apud Indos'' (Another Democrates, or A New Democrates, or on the Just Causes of War against the Indians) had argued that some native peoples were incapable of ruling themselves and should be pacified forcefully. The book was deemed unsound for publication by the theologians of Salamanca and Alcalá for containing unsound doctrine, but the pro-encomendero faction seized on Sepúlveda as their intellectual champion.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|pp=174–176}}</ref>

To settle the issues, a formal debate was organized, the famous [[Valladolid debate]], which took place in 1550–51 with Sepúlveda and Las Casas each presenting their arguments in front of a council of jurists and theologians. First Sepúlveda read the conclusions of his ''Democrates Alter'', and then the council listened to Las Casas read his counterarguments in the form of an "Apología". Sepúlveda argued that the subjugation of certain Indians was warranted because of their sins against Natural Law; that their low level of civilization required civilized masters to maintain social order; that they should be made Christian and that this in turn required them to be pacified; and that only the Spanish could defend weak Indians against the abuses of the stronger ones.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Losada|1971|pp=285–300}}</ref> Las Casas countered that the scriptures did not in fact support war against all heathens, only against certain [[Biblical Canaanites|Canaanite]] tribes; that the Indians were not at all uncivilized nor lacking social order; that peaceful mission was the only true way of converting the natives; and finally that some weak Indians suffering at the hands of stronger ones was preferable to all Indians suffering at the hands of Spaniards.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|pp=178–179}}</ref>

The judge, Fray [[Domingo de Soto]], summarised the arguments. Sepúlveda addressed Las Casas's arguments with twelve refutations, which were again countered by Las Casas. The judges then deliberated on the arguments presented for several months before coming to a verdict.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|p=1977}}<!--suspect page number--></ref> The verdict was inconclusive, and both debaters claimed that they had won.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|pp=181–182}}</ref>

Sepúlveda's arguments contributed to the policy of "war by fire and blood" that the [[Third Mexican Provincial Council]] implemented in 1585 during the [[Chichimeca War]].<ref>Poole, 1965, p. 115</ref> According to [[Lewis Hanke]], while Sepúlveda became the hero of the [[conquistador]]s, his success was short-lived, and his works were never published in [[Spain]] again during his lifetime.<ref>Hanke, 1949, p. 129</ref>

Las Casas's ideas had a more lasting impact on the decisions of the king, [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], as well as on history and [[human rights]].<ref name="Minahane, 2014">Minahane, 2014</ref> Las Casas's criticism of the encomienda system contributed to its replacement with [[Reductions|reducciones]].<ref>Minahane 2014</ref> His testimonies on the peaceful nature of the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] also encouraged nonviolent policies concerning the religious conversions of the Indians in [[New Spain]] and [[Peru]]. It also helped convince more [[Missionary|missionaries]] to come to the Americas to study the indigenous people, such as [[Bernardino de Sahagún]], who learned the native languages to discover more about their cultures and civilizations.<ref>Hernandez, 2015, p. 9</ref>

The impact of Las Casas's doctrine was also limited. In 1550, the king had ordered that the conquest should cease, because the Valladolid debate was to decide whether the war was just or not. The government's orders were hardly respected; conquistadors such as [[Pedro de Valdivia]] went on to wage war in [[Chile]] during the first half of the 1550s. Expanding the Spanish territory in the New World was allowed again in May 1556, and a decade later, Spain started its conquest of the [[Philippines]].<ref name="Minahane, 2014"/>