Sound Bites -- Provocative excerpts from primary and secondary sources (some with audio commentary)
71-80 of 333 Sound Bites. [show all]
< 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100 >
71) But was it lawful to intrude upon the harmless savages? To claim sovereignty over lands that conceivably belonged to the Emperor of China or at least the Emperor Powhatan? Casuistical writers went presently to work, some in the field of ethics, some in the field of religion, to find moral sanctions for the making of plantations. (Howard Mumford Jones, "The Colonial Impulse: An Analysis of the 'Promotion' Literature of Colonization." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 90.2 [1946]: 156.)
72) It was central to Vitoria's whole project to refute the claim of these "modern heretics" that the authority of a prince depended not upon God's laws but upon God's grace, and the subsequent argument that if any prince fell from grace he might legitimately be deposed by his subjects or by another more godly ruler. The Thomists' attack on the arguments that the crown's apologists had hitherto used to legitimate the occupation of America and those used, [. . .] , by such men as the most strident champion of Spanish imperialism, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, and a number of canon lawyers, came ultimately back to this. (Anthony Pagden, Spanish Imperialism and the Political Imagination: Studies in European and Spanish-American Social and Political Theory 1513-1830. New Haven: Yale UP, 1990: 18. )
73) The conclusion of all this is that the barbarians are not impeded from being true masters, publicly and privately, either by mortal sin in general or by the particular sin of unbelief. Nor can Christians use either of these arguments to support their title to dispossess the barbarians of their goods and lands. (Francisco de Vitoria, Political Writings. Ed. Anthony Pagden and Jeremy Lawrance. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991: 246. )
74) In addition to his [Richard Hakluyt the Younger] formal studies, he made regular trips to the principal seaports of London and Bristol to collect notes and records from sailors, offering intelligent insights into their problems and gaining the confidence and respect of captains, merchants, and mariners alike. Hakluyt thereby not only furthered his geographical knowledge but also gained practical understanding of the complexities of, and requirements for, outfitting successful voyages of discovery. Moreover, he began to gather the kind of information that would figure prominently in his major publications promoting exploration and colonization. (Susan Schmidt Horning, "The Power of Image: Promotional Literature and Its Changing Role in the Settlement of Early Carolina." North Carolina Historical Review 70.4 [1993]: 368. )
75) Many writers justified [. . .] the invasion and settlement of native lands as beneficial to the Indians as well as to the Whites, for the Indians received the blessings of Christianity and civilization in exchange for their labor and/or lands. Sepúlveda, opponent of Las Casas in the great Spanish debate over the nature of the Indian, advanced such an argument that in effect idealized the activities of his countrymen in the New World. He favored dividing the Indians "among honourable, just and prudent Spaniards, especially among those who helped to bring the Indians under Spanish rule, so that these may train their Indians in virtuous and humane customs, and teach them the Christian religion; which may not be preached by force of arms but by precept and example. In return for this, the Spaniards may employ the labour of the Indians in performing those tasks necessary for civilized life." The Virginia Company in 1610 issued a statement equally blunt in terms of the quid pro quo offered the Indians by the English, for the latter "by way of merchandizing and trade, doe buy of them the pearles of the earth, and sell to them the pearles of heaven." (Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr., The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1978:118. )
76) 8. If our nation does not make any conquest there, but only use trafficke and change of commodities, yet by meane the countrey is not very mightie, but divided into pety kingdoms, they shall not dare to offer us any great annoy, but such as we may easily revenge with sufficient chastisement to the unarmed people there. (Richard Hakluyt the Elder, "Inducements to the lykinge of the voyadge." New American World: A Documentary History of North America to 1612. Ed. David B. Quinn. Vol. 3. New York: Hector Bye, 1979. )
77) Robert A. Williams, Jr., writes that the Catholic Church was responsible for the discourses of imperialism through several centuries, so one could assert that men with their own interests used the church as a mask for their ambition. Perhaps in our time imperialist power has shifted from the church to democratic governments. (Mehnaz Choudhury, Lehigh University )
78) [The Europeans] attempted to instill in the native mind the image of a vastly competent and overwhelmingly powerful European colonist whose knowledge of the universe and efficiency in the making of war guaranteed his triumph in the New World. (Bernard W. Sheehan, Savagism and Civility: Indians and Englishmen in Colonial Virginia. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1980: 161. )
79) Compel them to come in. (Luke 14:23 )
80) This is therefore the reason in the parable from the Gospels for compelling the pagans to enter at the banquets of Christ: first to subject them to the government of Christians if it can be done without great disadvantage, and secondly to suitably prohibit them by the law of Constantine from the worship of idols and all heathen rites, and remove all obstacles that could impede the preaching of the Gospel. (Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, Apology for the Book On the Just Causes of War. Trans. and ed. Lewis D. Epstein. Bowdoin College: 1973: 22. )
