Columbus: Hero or Villain?

DBQ
Introduction: You have been invited to join a
debate on Capital Hill to answer the question,
should Columbus Day be abolished as a National
Holiday? To prepare for your involvement in the
discussion you must complete research to form
your side of the argument. Read through the
evidence provided in the documents and from
your reading. Complete the Outline for a Debate
worksheet by filling in information that directly
supports your side or refutes the oppositions side
of the argument. Though you may speak your
opinion throughout the debate you must have
specific information to support your beliefs!
Topic Focus Question: Should Columbus Day be Abolished as a
National Holiday?
Evidence: The following excerpts come from diverse sources and have
been edited for the purpose of this activity. (Helpful Hint: Underline the
words that display point of view of the author.)
Document 1
This extraordinary man, who was now about twenty-seven years of age, appears to have
united in his character every trait, and to have possessed every tallant, requisite to form
and execute the greatest enterprizes. He was early educated in all the useful sciences that
were taught in that day. He had made great proficiency in geography, astronomy and
drawing, as they were necessary to his favourite pursuit of navigation. He had now been a
number of years in the service of the Portuguese, and had acquired all the experience that
their voyages and discoveries could afford. His courage and perseverance had been put to
the severest test, and the exercise of every amiable and heroic virtue rendered him
universally known and respected.
Such was the situation of Columbus, when he formed and thoroughly digested a plan,
which, in its operation and consequences, unfolded to the view of mankind one half of
the globe, diffused wealth and dignity over the other, and extended commerce and
civilization through the whole.
Source: Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus

Document 2
The Columbus Day holiday is the only national holiday that is overtly insulting to
millions of Americans. It is now universally understood that Christopher Columbus did
not discover the American continent. That concept is a Euro-centric one that is
deeply insulting to American Indians and many native-born Americans of all cultures. It
is also historically incorrect. American Indian people have been on this continent at least
10,000 years, and scientists have proven that numerous other explorers had arrived on
this continent from other parts of the world long before Columbus. It is also now known
that many of the things we once believed about Christopher Columbus were myths, and
that much of what we did not know about him would seriously tarnish his image, to say
the least. This petition, however, is not meant to be an attack on Christopher Columbus,
but rather an appeal for a holiday that is not insulting to any American.
American national holidays should be days that bring a sense pride and togetherness for
ALL Americans, and stem from an American perspective. Columbus Day fails that
test on all counts. First Americans Day would be a holiday that would be meaningful to
each and every American. It would be a holiday that would be from an American
perspective rather from an Euro-centric one. And, finally it would be a holiday that
would instill pride in us as a collective group of people, while still recognizing and
honoring our differences. The concept is one that is a win-win for all Americans
regardless of their heritage.
Source: Online Petition to Abolish Columbus Day and Rename it.
Document 3
Timeline of Columbus Day:
1792 a ceremony organized by the Society of St. Tammany, or Colombian Order was held
in New York City honoring Columbus and the 300th anniversary of the landing.
Oct. 12 1866 out of the pride for their native son, the Italian population of New York
organized the first celebration of the discovery of America.
1869 when Italians in San Francisco celebrated Oct. 12 they called it Columbus Day.
1892 President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the 400th anniversary of the event.
1905 Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day.
Since 1920 the day has been celebrated annually.
1937 President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every Oct. 12 as Columbus Day.

1968 President Johnson declared it a federal public holiday on the 2nd Mon. in Oct.
Document 4
The association between Columbus and America took root in the imagination" in the
eighteenth century. "People had even more reason to think of themselves in distinctive
American terms." (Noble, 250) Americans, searching for a history and a hero, discovered
Columbus.
It is not hard to understand the appeal of Columbus as a totem for the new republic and
the former subjects of George III. Columbus had found the way of escape from Old
World tyranny. He was the solitary individual who challenged the unknown sea, as
triumphant Americans contemplated the dangers and promise of their own wilderness
frontier...as a consequence of his vision and audacity, there was now a land free from
kings, a vast continent for new beginnings. In Columbus the new nation without its own
history and mythology found a hero from the distant past, one seemingly free of any taint
from association with European colonial powers. The Columbus symbolism gave
America an instant mythology and a unique place in history, and their adoption of
Columbus magnified his own place in history.
Source: John Noble Wilford, Mysterious History of Columbus
Document 5
This gallery [of heroes] was not in place at the birth of the political nation. America, as a
young republic, found itself immediately in the middle of an identity crisis. Having
effected a violent separation from England and its cultural and political icons, America
was left without history--or heroes. Michael Kammen, in his Mystic Chords of Memory
explains that "repudiation of the past left Americans of the young republic without a firm
foundation on which to base a shared sense of their social selves." (65) A new national
story was needed, . . . The human need to explain origins, to create self-identity through
national identity, was thwarted . A vacuum was created, and was slowly filled with the
image of Christopher Columbus.
Columbus was a perfect icon for the confusing days of the early nineteenth century,
cutting across social, political, and regional boundaries, providing a kind of superficial
unity for the American national identity, a decontextualized and increasingly
monodimensional hero, created in the image of the age.
Source: Online source of Columbus in History
Document 6
"societies in fact reconstruct their pasts rather than faithfully record them" and do so
"with the needs of contemporary culture clearly in mind."
Source: Michael Kammen, Mystic Chords of Memory

Document 7

The Landing of Columbus by John Vanderlyn portrays the Age of Discovery.

Commissioned by Congress the work hangs in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
opposite those painted by John Trumball.
Document 8

The Columbus Doors at the

east entrance of the Rotunda
are an imposing welcome to
the heart of the gallery of
national myths. Standing
nearly 17 feet tall, and
weighing 20,000 pounds,
Randolph Roger's alto-relief
bronze doors make a powerful
statement about not only their
subject, Christopher
Columbus, but the importance
of Columbus to the national
consciousness.

Document 9
Columbus in Chains Philip Freneau
Are these the honors they reserve for me,
Chains for the man who gave new worlds to Spain!
Rest here, my swelling heart! -- O kings, O queens,
Patrons of monsters, and their progeny,
Authors of wrong, and slaves to fortune merely!
Why was I seated by my prince's side,
Honored, caressed like some first peer of Spain?
Was it that I might fall most suddenly
From honor's summit to the sink of scandal?
'Tis done, 'tis done! -- what madness is ambition!
What is there in that little breath of men,
Which they call Fame, that should induce the brave
To forfeit ease and that domestic bliss
Which is the lost of happy ignorance,
Less glorious aims, and dull humility? -Whoe'er thou art that shalt aspire to honor,
And on the strength and vigor of the mind
Vainly depending, court a monarch's favor,
Pointing the way to vast extended empire;
First could your pay to be ingratitude,
Then chains and prisons, and disgrace like mine!
Each wretched pilot now shall spread his sails,
And treading in my footsteps hail new worlds,
Which, but for me, had still been empty visions.
Document 10
When he arrived on Hispaniola in 1508, Las Casas says, "there were 60,000 people living
on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three
million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future
generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness
can hardly believe it...."
Thus began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian
settlements in the Americas. That beginning, when you read Las Casas-even if
his figures are exaggerations (were there 3 million Indians to begin with, as he

says, or less than a million, as some historians have calculated, or 8 million as

others now believe?) is conquest, slavery, death. When we read the history
books given to children in the United States, it all starts with heroic adventurethere is no bloodshed-and Columbus Day is a celebration.
Source: Howard Zinn, The Peoples History of the United States