Question

bartolomé de las casas and juan ginés de sepúlveda
these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity, the most obedient and faithful to their native masters and to the spanish christians whom they serve. they are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome.
they are... very apt to receive our holy catholic faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly fashion. yet into this sheepfold, into this land of meek outcasts there came some spaniards who immediately behaved like ravening wild beasts, wolves, tigers, or lions that had been starved for many days.”
—bartolomé de las casas, an account, much abbreviated, of the destruction of the indies, with related texts, ed. franklin knight, trans. andrew hurley, n.p.: hackett 2003, print.
the spanish have a perfect right to rule these barbarians of the new world and the adjacent islands, who in prudence, skill, virtues, and humanity are as inferior to the spanish as children to adults, or women to men; for there exists between the two as great a difference as between savage and cruel races and the most merciful, between the most intemperate lacking in self - control and the moderate and temperate, and, i might even say, between men and men.”
—juan ginés de sepúlveda, on the just causes of war against the indians
the excerpts above were written in response to which of the following?
select one answer
a growing concerns over the treatment of native americans by spanish plantation owners.
b the large - scale assaults on spanish settlements by the aztec and incan armies.
c the growth of the african slave trade was due to the high demand for labor.
d the growing rivalry between the spanish and portuguese concerning land claims in the new world

Explanation:

The excerpts discuss the treatment of Native Americans by the Spanish (e.g., descriptions of Native Americans' nature and Spanish behavior toward them). Option A is about concerns over Native American treatment by Spanish plantation owners, which aligns with the content (mention of Spanish rule over "barbarians of the New World" and their behavior). Option B is about Aztec/Incan armies, not in the excerpts. Option C is about African slave trade, irrelevant here. Option D is about Spanish - Portuguese rivalry, not mentioned. So A is correct.

Answer:

A. Growing concerns over the treatment of Native Americans by Spanish plantation owners.