Origins of Columbus Day
October 11th, 2010 - 9:44 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
New York, Oct 11 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Columbus Day is observed in the United States every year and the day’s origin is credited with one man who pushed for the day to be created in the late eighteenth century. The man - Timothy Sullivan presented a bill to the United States Congress to make the day a public holiday.
Eventually his bill was passed with a vote of 86 to 35 in 1909. The bill though was heavily criticized by people who saw the day as an unnecessary holiday.
The New York Times joined in the call to have the law repealed and in a 1913 editorial, the newspaper presented strong reasons why the day should not be named among the holidays in the United States.
The paper wrote that Timothy “forced” the bill “on reluctant New York and other lawmakers forced it, in turn, on other States”. The newspaper further said the day’s “occurrence interferes sadly with the conduct of business in the season which should be the busiest, but once we have a holiday we must keep it”. The papers further added that “Luckily there are no other new holidays in sight at present.”
Christopher Columbus was the man who discovered what then known as the “New World” which eventually became the United States of America.
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Tags: christopher columbus, columbus day, holidays in the united states, late eighteenth century, lawmakers, new york times, occurrence, oct 11, origins, public holiday, states of america, timothy sullivan, united states congress, united states of america, vote