BOME

Department of History

Fieldston School_________________________________________________

The Birth of Modern Europe

Homework Guidleines

For answers to questions, please be sure to follow the format below. More importantly, be sure to establish a topic sentence/thesis, to support your point with evidence drawn from your source (quotes, examples) or from history (events, dates, people, examples), and to conclude by discussing significance. For id/sigs be sure to provide the who, what, where and "so what."

Answer Format:

United States History [course]
Mr. Meyers [teacher]
Fredericka Fieldston [name]

Unit One, Day Five [assignment day]
9/22/99 [assignment due date]
"Columbus: Hero or Villain" [assignment day title]
Question #1 [question number]

1) Was Columbus a hero, a villain or something else altogether? [restatement] Columbus was neither a hero nor a villain, but, rather, a well intentioned, if misunderstood, extra-terrestrial. [topic sentence- answer and road map] The definition of a hero is: "A large sandwich, often including tomatoes, lettuce and dressing, as well as luncheon meats." A hero is also known as a submarine sandwich (New York and Northern New Jersey), Grinder (Pennsylvania), or Hoagie (Jersey shore). [good definitions] It is therefore plain that Columbus was no hero, as he lacked tomato, and only came to wear lettuce in his later years.

How did we come to believe Columbus was a hero? [topic sentence #1] It was actually later scholars who assumed he wore tomato, as is evident in the work of historian Irving Berlin. [secondary source] In his seminal work on Columbus, Around the World in Quite a Daze, Berlin cites Columbus’ now famous line, "You say tomayto, I say tomato, let’s call the encounter off," [primary source quote] as evidence of Columbus’ hero status. But recent scholarship, by Ima Nerd and others, shows that this quote actually came from Columbus’ first lieutenant, Botla Heinz. Heinz, 57 years old at the time, [factual evidence] was Columbus’ oldest and most trusted assistant, went on to point out that if they called the whole thing off, "then we must part, and, oh, if we have to part then that would break my heart." [primary source quote] Indeed, it may have been Heinz, whose caution was famous, who saved the whole enterprise by moving slowly and tempering Columbus’ hot temper. [analysis and explanation] When, on Thursday afternoon, October 10th, 1492, [date] Columbus complained, "they’re keeping me waiting," it was Heinz who argued, "Is patience that much to ask for from someone about to get a country, state, university, avenue and drug cartel named after him?" This argument persuaded Columbus to wait and thereby changed the course of American history. [significance] It also shows us that Columbus was no hero. [transition]

But the absence of a tomato does not prove Columbus a villain. [topic sentence #2] Villain’s require dark moustaches and a black cape, and it is clear, from the work of eye witness artists such as the etcher Paula Roid, [primary source] that Columbus’ cape was dark gray. This was the cape that Isabella had given Columbus in lieu of the 3,000 gold doubloons he had requested. [fact] It is ironic that it would be Isabella’s stinginess that would deny Columbus villain status. [analysis and interpretation]. But if Columbus was not a villain, then what was he? [transition]

So it is clear that Columbus was neither a hero nor a villain, but an extra-terrestrial. [restatement and conclusion] Not only did he stand only three feet high, but his finger glowed and he constantly droned, "CC phone home." [factual evidence] This is significant, as it shows that America is, and has always been, a haven for immigrants, from near and far. [significance and "so what" answer]

Identification/ Significance Format

1) Cristopher Columbus (1451-1506) was born in Genoa, Italy and is known as the "discoverer" of America. Engaged as a young man as a sugar agent for a Genoese trader, Columbus met navigators who believed in the existence of islands west of the Azores. Convincing the monarchs of Spain that he could reach the Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic, Columbus sailed to what would be called "the New World" in 1492, and would return several times. Columbus is significant as the most famous (if not the first) of the early European explorers of the Americas and as a symbol, for both good and ill, of the encounter between European colonizers and native peoples of the Americas. His significance is hotly debated as historians reevaluate the nature of European colonization and the question of historical "progress."

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