Argument Against Columbus Day

Columbus Day is a legal holiday that commemorates the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus himself, it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The arrival of Columbus in 1492 marks the beginning of recorded history in what we now know as America. So I believe that we should keep this patriotic holiday due to its significance to what America is known for today. It not only helps teach about the history of America, but is a fun way to learn. Although, some believe we should terminate the holiday because of many different reasons. Some will argue that Columbus was not the first European to discover America as the Viking, Leif Ericson, probably found a Norse village on this Newfoundland almost five-hundred years earlier. They will also argue that the Native Americans discovered North America about 14,000 years before Columbus was even born. As it says in “change.org” there is DNA evidence now that suggests that some Polynesian adventurers sailed dugout canoes across the Pacific and settled in South America long before even the Vikings did. Much research has been put into this, and even though this may be true, demolishing this holiday would almost crush America as a nation.
The tradition of celebrating this holiday dates all the way back to the eighteenth century. On October 12, 1792, Columbus was honored by the New York Society of Tammany for the 300th anniversary of his first voyage. A hundred years later the Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 and that same year, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day a Legal holiday. Then in 1971 it became a federal holiday in all fifty states after Congress passed a law that declared it be on the second Monday every