Patriot Realm

What is the Doctrine of Discovery? 

In International Law, it is one of the most hotly disputed rulings ever made. 

In 1823, American Justice John Marshall ruled that discovery of territory previously unknown to Europeans gave the discovering nation title to that territory against all other European nations, and this title could be perfected by possession. Needless to say, this did not go down too well with the Native American Indians, and it does not go down well with other Peoples from around the globe today. 

Perhaps we should turn to history to understand what might have been behind the quest for conquest. 

The belief in the superiority of the white Christian race had developed to such an extent by the 1400s that in 1441 Pope Eugene IV stated what was regarded by the Church as infallible in the papal bull Cantate Domino:

The Most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews, heretics, and schismatics can ever be partakers of eternal life, but that they are to go into the eternal fire 'which was prepared for the devil and his angels' (Mt 25:41) unless before death they are joined with her …

And as depicted below:

That was to have far-reaching consequences, as the Africans were all considered doomed to perdition and treated accordingly as inferior human beings. The interpretation of that infallible universal condemnation to the fires of Hell has been watered down somewhat in recent years, but in those days, it was taken to mean precisely what it said. As discussed below, the Christian Europeans were granted by subsequent popes the right to acquire all of the lands of those condemned to Hell and to hold the inhabitants in servitude.

The concept of the existence of a superior race (and gender) was rooted in the philosophy of the Church's guiding light Aristotle, who wrote in The Politics – On Slavery:

But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature? There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule . . .Again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled; this principle, of necessity, extends to all mankind.

That view was endorsed by the theologian, Thomas Aquinas in his well-known Commentary Upon The Politics by Aristotle, when he wrote:

Considered absolutely, the fact that this particular man should be a slave rather than another man, is based, not on natural reason, but on some resultant utility, in that it is useful to this man to be ruled by a wiser man, and to the latter to be helped by the former, as the Philosopher states … Wherefore slavery which belongs to the right of nations is natural in the second way, but not in the first.

And:

So we may say that, according to the climate, or the movement of the stars, some would have been born more robust in body than others, and also greater, and more beautiful, and all ways better disposed …

Coming from the greatest theologian of the Catholic Church, what was to follow was of no surprise. The infallible doctrine of white superiority and supremacy, which resulted in colonialism and the export of African captives to the New World, was set out as Christian doctrine in papal bulls, issued by Popes Nicholas V and Alexander VI between 1452 and 1493. The so-called Doctrine of Discovery, as expounded in the bulls, authorized the colonization and seizure by European Christians of land not inhabited by Christians. The doctrine was declared valid international law by the US Supreme Court in 1823 in Johnson v McIntosh, as referred to below.

The bulls issued by Nicholas V were Dum Diversas in 1452, (extract depicted below), and Romanus Pontifex in 1455. Dum Diversaswas addressed to King Alfonso V of Portugal at a time when Portugal had established trading posts on the west coast of Africa, known as the Gold Coast, because of the abundance of gold. The Gold Coast is now a part of the southern states of modern-day Ghana on the Gulf of Guinea.

In 1452, without making specific reference to any particular land, Nicholas in Dum Diversas granted to King Alfonso, as extracted in the image above:

… full and free power, through the Apostolic authority by this edict, to invade, conquer, fight, subjugate the Saracens and pagans, and other infidels and other enemies of Christ, and wherever established their Kingdoms, Duchies, Royal Palaces, Principalities and other dominions, lands, places, estates, camps and any other possessions, mobile and immobile goods found in all these places and held in whatever name, and held and possessed by the same Saracens, Pagans, infidels, and the enemies of Christ, also realms, duchies, royal palaces, principalities and other dominions, lands, places, estates, camps, possessions of the king or prince or of the kings or princes, and to lead their persons in perpetual servitude, and to apply and appropriate realms, duchies, royal palaces, principalities and other dominions, possessions and goods of this kind to you and your use and your successors the Kings of Portugal.

Although contradicted by the bulls of some later popes, Dum Diversas was a green light to the enslavement of Africans. It persuaded white Christian Europeans to believe they were superior to other races.

Then in 1455, in Romanus Pontifex, Nicholas granted Portugal dominion over all lands south of Cape Bojador in Africa and encouraged the seizure of the lands of Saracen Turks and pagans and infidels everywhere:

… We [therefore] weighing all and singular the premises with due meditation, and noting that since we had formerly by other letters of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso — to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit …

… we do by the tenor of these presents decree and declare have pertained, and forever of right do belong and pertain, to the aforesaid king and to his successors and to the infante, and that the right of conquest which in the course of these letters we declare to be extended from the capes of Bojador and of Nao, as far as through all Guinea, and beyond toward that southern shore, has belonged and pertained, and forever of right belongs and pertains, to the said King Alfonso, his successors, and the infante, and not to any others …And in order to confer a more effectual right and assurance we do by these presents forever give, grant, and appropriate to the aforesaid King Alfonso and his successors, kings of the said kingdoms, and to the infante, the provinces, islands, harbors, places, and seas whatsoever, how many soever, and of what sort soever they shall be, that have already been acquired and that shall hereafter come to be acquired, and the right of conquest also from the capes of Bojador and of Nao aforesaid, as far as through all Guinea, and beyond toward that southern shore, has belonged and pertained, and forever of right belongs and pertains, to the said King Alfonso, his successors, and the infante, and not to any others … we do by these presents forever give, grant, and appropriate to the aforesaid King Alfonso and his successors, kings of the said kingdoms, and to the infante, the provinces, islands, harbors, places, and sea.

That effectively conferred upon Portugal the sole right to worldwide conquest and to hold the non-Christian inhabitants in perpetual slavery, which did not sit well with the Spanish following the so-called discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, some popes and cardinals owned non-Christian slaves. For example, in 1488, Pope Innocent VIII was gifted 100 slaves by Ferdinand II of Aragon. Innocent distributed those between his cardinals and some members of the Roman nobility. By way of further example, in 1639, Pope Urban VIII, while banning slavery of indigenous inhabitants of the New World, purchased African and Turkish slaves from the Catholic military order (The Knights Hospitaller) to row the Papal galleys. The Knights were located on Malta from 1530 until 1798 when Napoleon abolished them. Over that period, the Knights used hundreds of galley slaves to row their vessels to attack pirates and Turkish shipping. There was a significant slave market in Valletta, operated by the Knights, in which they sold the slaves captured by their galleys or during other military conflicts.

Following being advised in 1493 of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, and following negotiations first with Spain and then with Portugal, Rodrigo Borgia (1431-1503), who was Pope Alexander VI from 1492 until his death in 1503, issued four papal bulls, the principal being Inter Caetera. An extract is depicted below:

 The bulls divided the world in two by drawing an arbitrary line between the poles.

On one half of the globe, Spain could claim dominion over any non-Christian land by merely setting foot on it, and effectively any other Christian nation, including Portugal, over the other half. Inter Caetera provided:

… by tenor of these presents, should any of said islands have been found by your envoys and captains, give, grant, and assign to you and your heirs and successors, kings of Castile and Leon, forever, together with all their dominions, cities, camps, places, and villages, and all rights, jurisdictions, and appurtenances, all islands and mainlands found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered towards the west and south, by drawing and establishing a line from the Arctic pole, namely the north, to the Antarctic pole, namely the south, no matter whether the said mainlands and islands are found and to be found in the direction of India or towards any other quarter, the said line to be distant one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde … With this proviso, however, that none of the islands and mainlands, found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered, beyond that said line towards the west and south, be in the actual possession of any Christian king or prince up to the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ just past from which the present year 1493 begins . . .

The bulls gave Spain temporal power over the Americas, including the inhabitants. Portugal was similarly given dominion over any non-Christian land in Africa and Asia, having previously been given dominion over lands and the inhabitants in West Africa by Pope Nicholas V in 1455.

In 1506, following the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal in 1494, Brazil was ceded to Portugal by Pope Julius II. 

The aim, at least ostensibly, if not factually, was to convert the native inhabitants to Christianity. The combination of the edicts of Dum Diversas, Romanus Pontifex, and Inter Caetera is known as the Doctrine of Discovery, which was upheld unanimously by the US Supreme Court as valid international law in 1823 in Johnson & Graham's Lessee v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823), delivered through the opinion of Chief Justice, John Marshall. The Court decided that while Native Americans had the right to live on their lands, they had no right to title:

It has never been doubted that either the United States or the several states had a clear title to all the lands within the boundary lines described in the treaty, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy, and that the exclusive power to extinguish that right was vested in that government which might constitutionally exercise it …

The right of occupancy of the Native Americans, as referred to above by Justice Marshal, was extinguished by the US Government during the presidency of Andrew Jackson by the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1820. The five major tribes in the South-East of the US were forced to move west to reservations in Oklahoma. Most Native Americans, some of the wealthy with their African slaves, were driven by either treaty or force. The majority traveled along the Trail of Tears, during which time many died from starvation and other privations.

The Doctrine of Discovery was cited with approval by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who delivered the majority opinion of the US Supreme Court in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N. Y. (03-855) 544 U.S. 197 (2005). A footnote from the opinion, which quotes a previous opinion of the court, is depicted below:

Rudyard Kipling believed in the superiority of the white race, and in 1899 wrote his poem The White Man's Burden in support of the annexation of the Philippines by the US. Kipling sent a copy of the poem to his friend Theodore Roosevelt, then the governor of New York. One stanza read:

Take up the White Man's burden –

Send forth the best ye breed -

Go bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild -

Your new-caught sullen peoples

Half devil and half child.

Roosevelt, who would have his 60 feet high visage carved into the side of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, remarked: rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.