LAS CASAS, Bartolomé de.

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Este es un tratado que... Bartholome de las Casas... compuso por comission del Consejo Real delas Indias... Sobre la Materia de los Yndios que se han Heco en Ellas Esclavos. The first edition of Bartolomé de las Casas's sixth tract advocating the better treatment of indigenous Americans by the Spanish. The present work "contains judicial authorities and reasons why the natives should be restored to freedom" (Church).Supplementing his previous tracts which provided religious, moral, and political arguments against slavery in the Spanish colonies, this sixth tract focuses on "auctoridades juridicas" in favour of abolition. In particular, he argues that even under a system where slaves are considered a legal prize for victory in a just war, the argument is flawed as the Crown never gave authority for such a war, and there could be no "just" cause for the invading Spaniards to wage war on the native inhabitants of America. As he concludes, Las Casas boldly declares that "His Majesty is obligated by divine precept to liberate all of the Indians who are held as slaves by the Spanish" [our translation].All of Las Casas's tracts are of great significance, both for their immediate effect in reforming the Spanish colonial system to some degree, and as some of the earliest examples of European moral debates over human rights and colonialism.

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