It will be seen upon reading them, that the view which [Bartolomé de] Las Casas so strongly insisted upon was adopted, and that the Laws are aimed at the extinction of the system of repartimiento or encomienda. The influence of Las Casas is to be seen in every clause of the laws, which, it may fairly be said, owed their existence to his fearless and persevering advocacy of the cause of the Indians. The Laws were conceived with more humanity than practical statesmanship; they affected prejudicially to a very serious extent, and in a very real way, the pecuniary interests of the Spanish Colonists, and great opposition was to be looked for. –Fred W. Lucas and Henry Stevens Introduction The New Laws of the Indies Those most likely to oppose the encomienda and repartimiento systems and support the Spanish New Laws were A) Catholic priests and missionaries who supported fair and humane treatment of American Indians. B) Spanish aristocrats who believed that inhumane treatment of native populations reflected favorably on Spain’s international reputation. C) Merchants and traders who believed they would profit more from the use of chattel slavery for labor. D) Spanish colonists who saw encomienda as preventing them from finding profitable work in the Americas.