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Megan Johnson
Mr. Burchett
Government 6
23 October 2015
The Columbus Withdrawal Act of 2015
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World. And in
his name, the United States of America currently celebrates his great discovery on the
second Monday of every October. As Columbus is presently credited with finding the
Americas, many people within the United States are inclined to believe that the nature
and actions of the explorer were benevolent and kind, while in reality, they were anything
but. It was only after his arrival in the Americas that thriving native populations fell into
rapid decline, American Indians were stigmatized as savages, and a precedent of white
superiority and dominance was set within the Americas, and it is only right that we forgo
the celebration of a man who set havoc upon the lives of the original Americans.
Columbus arrived to a land full of treasures: the crops, the precious metals, and
the people. But upon Columbus arrival, the indigenous peoples of the Americas found
no treasures, rather the cause of their near extinction. Although there are no written
records, it is clear that after European arrival the Native Americans populations were
decreased to nearly the point of extinction. It is estimated that close to 75 million native
peoples were living in the Americas at the time of Columbuss arrival in 1492and
anywhere between 10 and 25 million in North America alonebut soon after, the native
populations were nearly decimated (Zinn). For European presence in the Americas
caused American Indian populations to not only turn against one another, but also raged

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biological warfare on the natives. Whether or not the warfare was intentionaland when
Europeans gave American Indians smallpox infected blankets, it was clearly intentional
the American Indian immune system was unable to cope with the sudden influx of
disease that they possessed no immunity to. Diseases such as influenza, smallpox, and
measles wiped out tribes across the Americas; some tribes were annihilated before
European contact was even established (Rivera). This was possible due to the thousands
of years of isolation of the American continents, in which the Native Americans naturally
lost their immunity to diseases they had long since gotten rid of, leaving their bodies with
no resistance to foreign invaders. And now, according to the 2010 Census, 5.2 million
people in the United States identify as American Indian and Alaska Native, either alone
or in combination with one or more other races (Norris, et all). Slowly, over the course of
over five hundred years, the North American native population is beginning to rebuild
itself. But it has not been easy for tribes to regain strength and start to flourish once
more, as Christopher Columbus gave the complex civilizations of the Americas the title
of savages.
The primary definition of civilization, according to the Merriam-Webster
Dictionary, is a relatively high level of cultural and technological development. Upon
looking at the complex societies in existence at the time and prior to Columbuss arrival
to the Americas, it is difficult to say that American Indians were anything but civilized.
But as Columbus came, he denoted these expansive and multifaceted societies into
childlike, easily conquered units that needed to be granted the gift of European
civilization. Into the sixteenth century, many men came to the Americas in the name of

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Catholicism, and stayed to rape, pillage, and enslave the natives. Bartolom de Las Casas
brings the most telling descriptions of this time period, as
Endless testimonies...prove the mild and pacific temperament of the natives...But
our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then,
if they tried to kill one of us now and then...[Columbus], it is true, was blind as
those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King he committed
irreparable crimes against the Indians (History).
It is now clear that many of these men used the encomienda systemthe involuntary use
of Indian labor on Spanish owned landsin the cruelest way possible. The American
Indians of Latin America were worked to death in the search of gold that only existed in
flecks, by the never-ending labor, and the subhuman treatment of their bodies. But these
were peoples with established civilizations, from the Moundbuilders during the time of
Jesus Christ and Julius Caesar to the Cherokee during the Age of Andrew Jackson, from
the Mayans in Mexico to the Inuits in Alaska. Their cultures were complex and diverse,
and it was the unwanted European influence that caused the people of the Americas to be
seen as less than, as incorrect. In one of his logs about his voyage, Columbus stated,
[The Indians] would make fine servantsWith fifty men we could subjugate them all
and make them do whatever we want (Zinn). Columbus made his intentions to
overpower the natives clear as he took them as slaves to display in the Spanish courts, to
use for labor, to use for sex. Columbus held no consideration for the lives of Native
Americans as human beings, he only acknowledged them as tools to be used in the great
Spanish conquest for Gold, Glory, and Gospel. And for the next five hundred years,

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European immigrants would follow in Columbuss footsteps and oppress the indigenous
peoples in any way they could.
As more and more Europeans arrived in the Americas, the northern Native
Americans were forced to withdraw from their land and move west in the name of
Manifest Destinywhich was essentially a display of white dominance. Each and every
original settler of the United States threw aside the notion that the American Indians
could have any claim to the land, and this was best represented by former President
Andrew Jacksons Second Annual Address to Congress, in which he said:
And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment to his
home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more afflicting to him to leave the
graves of his fathers than it is to our brothers and children? Rightly considered,
the policy of the General Government toward the red man is not only liberal, but
generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the States and mingle with their
population. To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the
General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the
whole expense of his removal and settlement (Jackson).
For it was After Andrew Jackson became President, the white agenda was clear, for in
spite of federal treaties and laws giving Congress authorities over the tribes, state laws
took to destroying native culture in order to force the tribes off of their lands (Zinn).
This was the majority opinion within the United States, that it was the good, white
Christian who could lay claim to the land out west, and no acknowledgment was made to
the natives who had lived within the confines of North America for thousands of years.
And so, they were forced West, and although for 500 generations they flourished until

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newcomers came... (Buerge), Native Americans were denied the right to the land that
they had cultivated, the land that they had grown up upon. Because from Columbus to
Cortes, Pizarro to the Puritans, the Founding Fathers to the government today, the white
settlers repeatedly made excuses to take Indian land, and the natives would always know
that
(1) the Englishmens most solemn pledge would be broken whenever obligation
conflicted with advantage; (2) that the English way of war had no limit of scruple
or mercy; and (3) that weapons of Indian making were almost useless against
weapons of European manufacture. These lessons the Indians took to heart
(Jennings).
Repeatedly, Indians within the United States were mistreated and abused, and soon, this
was a lesson all Native Americans took to heart. Even to this day, the names of former
Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are spoken of with spite, as it was they
who most prominently carried on Columbuss need to take away and subdue the
American Indians way of life.
Christopher Columbus was by far the most prominent explorer of the New World,
as he is credited by the majority of Americans as being the original founder of the
Americas, and it is these people who believe that Columbus Day should remain to be a
celebration, to be a national holiday. But in reality, a large multitude of people were
already within the Americas, for two continents already populated with millions of people
is not truly hidden. Even if the European discovery of America is counted, the credit
should not even go to Columbus, but rather Leif Ericsson, a Scandinavian explorer who
primarily discovered North America (The Discovery). Another argument against the

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promotion of a new holiday is that it would cost the people of the United States too much
money, and that the new celebration would fail to take in the place of Columbus Day.
But, in places such as Berkeley, California (Indigenous) and the state of Hawaii
(Discoverers), people are undeniably willing to celebrate and honor the native peoples.
In Hawaiian legislature, Discoverers Day essentially takes the place of Columbus Day,
as The second Monday in October shall be known as Discoverers' Day, in recognition of
the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian Islands, provided that this day is not and shall
not be construed to be a state holiday (Discoverers). Recognition is a powerful tool,
and the indigenous peoples of the United States deserve to be recognized for their
struggles against the cruel European invaders.
Columbus was not a good man; manipulated, murdered, raped, and pillaged
American Indians for the sake of civilization. He did not promote progress; instead, he
promoted the decimation of cultures, the destruction of the native peoples, and the
mistreatment of the indigenous peoples. And so, we should not celebrate Columbus as a
hero, we should not grant him the place of being a prominent, national figure in our
country. Rather, we should give back to the peoples within America who have been
oppressed since the Europeans arrived in America.

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Works Cited
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Buerge, David M. "Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest: An
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Jackson, Andrew. "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional
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<http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.html>.

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Rivera, Mariel. "The Cultural Implications of European Disease on New World
Populations: With Primary Focus on the Abenaki, Powhatan, and Taino Groups."
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Print
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