Examining the Issue of Enslaving Native Americans

In 1550-51, Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, in the Valladolid Debate, attempted to settle the issue of whether or not Native Americans should have been enslaved, given sanction by the Pope. Both carefully argued their side, las Casas stating emphatically, through his "Apología," that Native Americans were not all uncivilized and that only Canaanite tribes could be enslaved. What ensued was a heated, good vs. evil argument that settled nothing and still allowed the Catholic Church and the Spanish government to condone and support the continued enslavement of native peoples.