Aztec Empire Persuasive Speech

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We Spaniards know a sickness of the heart that only gold can cure (Cortes, n.d.), an infection which drives a desire to discover new lands never heard of, seen of, or dreamt of before; what motivates us to glorify our great nation and worship the one and only god - our God. Welcome fellow Spaniards, hola, it is I, Hernando Cortes, captain of the caravel and leader of this expedition. I urge you to come and join with me, in my return to the city of Technochtitlan, in North America, where stories of wealth and glory have emerged. We must conquer and purify the Aztecs of their corrupt practices. Almighty God, whose name in which this war will be waged, will bring us to victory. There are several undeniable reasons why we must defeat these heathen …show more content…
As you can see in this image, the successfulness of the Aztec empire can largely be attributed to a great number of resources, including, yes, gold. These gold pieces you can see behind me are the fine work of Aztec craftsmen - an owls head, a snake-shaped lip plug, a human head ring, a monkey-headed pendant, an earplug and a small figure of God (Cortes and the Aztec Conquest, p. 72). Can you not see why we must conquer the city of Tenochtitlan in order to gain great wealth for our nation? We have heard stories of abundant wealth and newly discovered lands emerge from the voyages of Christopher Columbus. We will take vast quantities of gold and other precious metals from the societies we encounter in our conquest of the Americas. One man records in this excerpt from the Florentine Codex Montecuuma’s extensive and expensive personal property, which included necklaces and pendants, armbands, leather, turquoise diadem and a number of gold pieces of jewellery (Lockhart, 1585). Why these are just some of the jewels I have taken back from that city! Now, I urge you, claim your share of gold! Join us on our journey from the Gulf of Mexico, San Juan de Ulua through to the city of Tenochtitlan, where we will reduce their buildings to rubble and prove to these people that us Spaniards are superior! I shall make you in a very short time the richest men who have crossed the sea. But I need your
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Words 503 - Pages 3