Questions

1. William J. Connell bases his argument on a premise of a specific viewpoint toward holidays. What is it?

   Question

   Questions: - William J. Connell bases his argument on a premise of a specific viewpoint toward holidays. What is it?
2. What does Connell mean by “civic religion” (par. 4) with regard to American holidays? Explain whether you agree or disagree that there is such a thing.

   Question

   Questions: - What does Connell mean by “civic religion” (par. 4) with regard to American holidays? Explain whether you agree or disagree that there is such a thing.
3. What evidence does Connell provide to support his claim that originally the Columbus Day holiday “was not about the Founding Fathers or the Civil War, but about the rest of American history” (par. 6)? How persuasive do you find his reasoning?

   Question

   Questions: - What evidence does Connell provide to support his claim that originally the Columbus Day holiday “was not about the Founding Fathers or the Civil War, but about the rest of American history” (par. 6)? How persuasive do you find his reasoning?
4. Connell discusses two “tragedies” (par. 7) that had occurred very close to the 1892 initiation of the Columbus Day holiday: the massacre at Wounded Knee and the lynching of eleven Italians in a Louisiana prison. How does he connect these events with the holiday? How effective is he in making the connection?

   Question

   Questions: - Connell discusses two “tragedies” (par. 7) that had occurred very close to the 1892 initiation of the Columbus Day holiday: the massacre at Wounded Knee and the lynching of eleven Italians in a Louisiana prison. How does he connect these events with the holiday? How effective is he in making the connection?
5. What point does Connell make about Columbus’s “moral standing” (par. 13)? Why does he raise the effort made to have Columbus canonized?

   Question

   Questions: - What point does Connell make about Columbus’s “moral standing” (par. 13)? Why does he raise the effort made to have Columbus canonized?
6. Examine the logic of the final paragraph. What links does Connell make between and among his points that the “holiday marks the event, not the person,” the person was “unquestionably a man of daring and unusual ambition,” and “what really mattered” was his landing on San Salvador in 1492? How effective is this conclusion?

   Question

   Questions: - Examine the logic of the final paragraph. What links does Connell make between and among his points that the “holiday marks the event, not the person,” the person was “unquestionably a man of daring and unusual ambition,” and “what really mattered” was his landing on San Salvador in 1492? How effective is this conclusion?