The Columbiad is an epic poem that celebrates America. It opens with Christopher Columbus in prison, despondent and feeling poorly rewarded for his great achievements. He is visited by Hesper, represented as the guardian genius of the lands to the west of Europe. He leads Columbus in a vision of the western hemisphere: its physical description, its native people, and the history of North and South America. They see the Aztec and Inca empires, the settling of America by Europeans, and the development of the British colonies up through the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States.

The poem had its origin in an earlier work, The Vision of Columbus , which Barlow started during the Revolutionary War and expanded in the following years. First printed as The Columbiad in 1807, it’s filled with Barlow’s political views: he believed that the United States, as a haven of liberty, would demonstrate to other nations how to be free and prosperous. He also hoped that all peoples would learn to speak the same language and pursue knowledge, commerce, the arts, and peace.