The Overdue Abolishment Of Columbus Day - 1559 Words

na Manley November 8th, 2015 Writing 121 The overdue abolishment of Columbus Day Christopher Columbus may have first left his mark on the Americas in the 15th century, but the United States didn’t establish a federal holiday in his honor until 1937 (Dan Fitcher). Commissioned by Spanish king Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to explore Asia, Columbus instead sailed to the new world in 1492 (Dan Fitcher). He first come ashore in the Bahamas later making his way to Cuba and the island of Hispaniola (now home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Believing that he had located China and Japan, Columbus founded the first Spanish colony in the Americas with the help of nearly 40 crew members. The following spring he presented Queen Isabella and King†¦show more content†¦This public shows of support draw frequent protests from Native Americans, who make the point that Columbus discovered nothing, native populations were living in the Americas long before European explorers made their first trips across the Atlantic. And once there, Columbus wasn t exactly kind to his new neighbors. On his very first day in the New World, Columbus took six natives as slaves. Along with pressing thousands of more natives into forced labor, and killing anyone who disagreed with him and his methods. Even his own colonists didn t like him, their complaints led him to be called back by his Spanish royal sponsors in 1500 leading to imprisonment (about news). Some merging arguments to why the day should continue Already throughout our American history there have been some efforts to get this federal-holiday status revoked, and although yet it is not, many just simply ignore the holiday entirely. As this being as it is, some people may argue still that Columbus Day should indeed still be celebrated because Columbus Day recognizes the achievements of a great explorer who founded the first permanent European settlement in the New World, but was he the first? Some may also say that the arrival of Columbus in 1492 marks the beginning of recorded history in America making Columbus Day a patriotic holiday. Or others may say that that the