From “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future” by Robert P. Jones
DeSoto’s conquest – particularly his arrival at the Mississippi River – was considered central enough to America’s founding myth that it was commemorated in 1855 as the final installment of eight large historical paintings commissioned by Congress that are still displayed in the Rotunda of the US Capitol building today. Painted by William H. Powell, the eighteen-by-twelve-foot Discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto depicts a white fantasy of American origins, a romanticized Euro-Christian vision of divinely ordained conquest. While the significance of the details is lost on most contemporary observers, Powell carefully captured the performance of the specific ritual acts that were required to secure the legal claim to Indigenous land under the Doctrine of Discovery.
The large canvas has two distinct visual fields. In the well-lit background, the painting depicts de Soto astride a white horse, adorned in Renaissance-era finery, entering a Native American village that is perched on a bluff overlooking the river. He is surrounded by a dense phalanx of mounted armed soldiers. The Native Americans, both men and women, are all shirtless. Native women warily cling to each other, with some hiding behind a large teepee. Three male Native leaders stand over a few crude weapons spread on a blanket on the ground, one in a majestic headdress, one extending a peace pipe, and another guardedly crossing his arms.
In the foreground, cast in shadow, is the remarkable juxtaposition of European implements of war and the symbols of Christianity. On the bottom left, there are allusions to the fighting that had taken place the day before between de Soto’s men and Native Americans. One man is tending a wounded leg; another, part of a cohort pushing a large cannon, has his head bandaged. In the center, directly below de Soto’s horse, is a cache of muskets, ammunition, armor, and a battle axe. Occupying the entire lower right corner of the painting is a massive crucifix – consisting of rough-hewn timber tied with rope and adorned with a white crucified Jesus – being raised amid the village. A Catholic monk blesses it with his right hand while reading a proclamation from a manuscript held with his left.
These acts were not spontaneous expressions of thanks to God for a safe journey, nor were they simply routine religious ceremonies. Rather, they were performances of a specific set of rituals designed to secure legal claims through the invocation of the moral and religious framework of the Doctrine of Discovery. If Powell’s painting were animated with audio, you would hear the monk reading these words aloud to the assembled throng:
God our Lord gave charge to one man, called St. Peter, that he should be Lord and Superior of all the men in the world, that all should obey him, and that he should be the head of the whole human race, wherever men should live, and under whatever law, sect, or belief they should be; and he gave him the world for his kingdom and jurisdiction… One of these Pontiffs, who succeeded St. Peter as Lord of the world, in the dignity and seat which I have before mentioned, made donation of these isles and Terra-firme to the aforesaid King and Queen and to their successors, our lords, with all that there are in these territories, as is contained in certain writings which passed upon the subject as aforesaid, which you can see if you wish.
This truly remarkable text, which became known as the Requerimiento, was developed for use by Spanish conquistadors by jurist Palacios Rubios of the Council of Castile in 1514. It was written in Latin, the language of the European Catholic Church, spoken neither by most of the Spanish soldiers nor the Native Americans. Nonetheless, it was created to proclaim to Indigenous people their new status – effective upon their “discovery” – as subjects of the Spanish monarchy by order of the pope. It was a carefully developed part of the Euro-Christian choreography of conquest, designed to legitimate European claims to dominion over specific people and territory under the Doctrine of Discovery.
After asserting the divine authority invested in the pope and delegated to the Spanish monarchs, the Requerimiento claims that other Indigenous peoples everywhere have gladly accepted this news and have voluntarily submitted to be Spanish subjects. It also alleges that “all these, of their own free will, without any reward or condition, have become Christians” and declares, “You too are held and obliged to do the same.” The Requerimiento goes on to reassure the Indigenous people of the benefits of becoming Christian Spanish subjects: “You will do well…and we in their name shall receive you in all love and charity.”
But the document also concludes with this ominous description of the consequences of not “freely” accepting these terms:
But, if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay of it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their Highnesses, we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord and resist and contradict him; and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, not of these cavaliers who come with us. And that we have said this to you and made this Requisition, we request the notary here present to give us his testimony in writing, and weak the rest who are present that they should be witnesses of the Requisition.