In 1803, the U.S bought Louisiana from France. The massive portion of the terrestrial west of the River Mississippi was entirely unidentified to the people of the United States and required to be inspected first before it could start living there. The President of the United States Jefferson decides to direct an investigative trip to the west, so he selected his secretary for it, Meriwether Lewis as a Chief in-charge of the trip and discovering proper guidelines for it. Lewis has requested his past officer, William Clark from Army, to be his Co-leader. Their task was to travel the unknown land, develop trades with the Citizens and confirm the dominion of the U.S in the area. One of their aims was to discover a watercourse that went from the United States to the Pacific-Ocean. Clark and Lewis ordered the Forces of find which comprised of 33 persons, that includes an Indian lady and a slave. The voyage continued from May 1804 until September 1806. They were unsuccessful to discovery a watercourse that went from Mississippi towards the Pacific but successfully documented around 178 new plants and 100 animals, in addition to the making of 140 maps of the territory. The voyage was so noticeable in antiquity that the tale of the travellers was pictured into several films and numerous books have been inscribed about the expedition. Sacagawea was an Innate American who directed their mission as she knows that innate terrestrial is much better than that of the European explorers. The explorers, Sacagawea and frequently her partner are portrayed in several methods in portraits, models, and in television(Lewis et al.).
Earlier becoming the 3rd President of the U.S, Thomas Jefferson had a dream of sending voyagers to the North America. When Jefferson took the presidential office in 1801, the majority of the U.S inhabitants lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic-Ocean. Information of the western part of the region was limited to what has been erudite from the French merchants and fur-trappers and British and Spanish explorers. On 18 January 1803, President of the United States Jefferson send a confidential letter to the Congress requesting for 2,500 dollars to endowment an expedition towards the Pacific Ocean. He expected to create trade relations with the Native American persons of the West and discovery a water road to the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson also was charmed by the view of what might be erudite about the topography of the West, the languages and lives of the Native American people, the animal and plants, the rocks, the soils, the climate, and how they varied as compared to that in the East(Burroughs et al.).
The President of the United States Jefferson’s selection to organize an expedition was Meriwether Lewis, his past secretary and a fellow native of Albemarle County, Virginia. Having got the position of captain in the army of the United States, Lewis controlled military-discipline and practice that might be proven to be priceless. Although in Army, Lewis had helped in a rifle corporation instructed by William Clark. It was Clark with whom Lewis chose to support him in extended this United States Army trip, usually recognized nowadays as the “Corps of Discovery.” On February 28, 1803, Congress released the funds for the Trip, and Jefferson’s vision came closer to be the truth(Clark and Journey).
It was significant for Lewis to achieve some technical abilities and to purchase tools that will be required on the expedition. In spring of 1803, Lewis toured to Philadelphia to learn about the expedition with the top scientists of that time. Andrew Ellicott trained Lewis with the map designing skills and surveying. Benjamin Smith Barton taught Lewis the botany discipline, Robert Patterson in mathematics, Caspar Wistar in anatomy and fossils, and Benjamin Rush in medicine(Miller).
However in Philadelphia Lewis bought numerous of the tools that are needed for the expedition. His list of shopping comprised of the scientific tools for example a sextant and chronometer, an air-rifle, ammunition and arms, ink ,medicines, and other stuffs for periodical possession, and a huge collection of other things, that includes more than 193 pounds of transportable soup, blankets, oiled linen mosquito netting, a corn mill, for the making of tents, tools, candles, and reference-books(Hamen).
Clark and Lewis consumed the winter of 1803-04 at Camp Dubois on the eastern bank of the River Mississippi, upstream from St. Louis. From there, the captains employed further men, growing the positions of the “Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery” to furthermore to 40. As spring season advanced, the associates of the Expedition collected the food and other supplies and filled them into containers, baggage, and boxes. The ships were laden, and all the people were made prepared for the departure. On May 14, 1804, the Clark & Lewis Expedition started its expedition towards the River Missouri(Clark and Coues).
Clark, Lewis, and other participants of the Expedition initiated inscription in their magazines, a practice that sustained through the expedition. The making of Map was likewise significant, chiefly in the beforehand uncharted areas. As the travellers come across different streams and rivers, they were answerable for designating these rivers and streams. They termed it with sure well-known American people, for example, James Madison and Jefferson, and others persons for associates and participants of the Voyage. The similar was correct for sure of the new animals and plants that they come across. Several of these designations are still in use nowadays.
At the end of July, the travellers camp out north on the mouth of the River Platte, at a place they named as Council Bluff. Lewis has written in his journal that the location was excellent for the business posts. It was here on August 3 that Clark and Lewis had their 1st meeting with the Native American people, a minor collection of Missouri and Otto Indians. In this period Sergeant Charles Floyd, one of the warriors, come to be severely ill and pass away due to the ruptured appendix on 20th of August. He was the only person of the Journey to pass away in the expedition(Allen).
As the Journey toured up to the River Missouri in end of August and in September, the scenery and the places sideways the river altered significantly. The forests retreated, replaced firstly by the tall steppe grass and after that by the short grass of the higher grasslands. Hundreds of cows were seen cropping, and grassland dogs were first seen. The sun setting temperatures turn out to be much colder, with ice on the land on several mornings. Clark and Lewis scheduled to winter close to the long-recognized communities occupied by great numbers of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes, the northern part of current day North Dakota, Bismarck. On October 26, 1804, the Expedition reached the earth cottage Indian towns, around 2100 kilometer from Dubois camp. A decent place was discovered for the camp, and the males set about constructing Fort Mandan crossways the stream from the Indian townships.
In the winter season, Clark and Lewis have worked to create respectable relations with the Indian people, which had been trading with French-Canadian and English merchants for some time. One of these merchants, Toussaint Charbonneau, was convinced to attend the Journey as a translator when it was left in the spring season. His young pregnant wife, Sacagawea, who had been seized from her Lemhi Shoshone tribe ages beforehand by Hidatsa’s, was to go alongside too. Sacagawea, therefore, turn out to be the only female participant of the Journey. Her child, named Jean Baptiste, was born on February 11, 1805. Clark and Lewis understood that Sacagawea could be valuable as a guide as the Journey continued toward the west, and supposed the existence of the lady and her children could indicate that the gathering was a passive one.
Journey with the Missouri’s current, the Journey was capable of covering a distance up to 70 miles per day. The travellers visited the villages of Mandan on 14th of August, and there segregated company with Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and young Jean Baptiste. The Expedition ended its trip when it visited St. Louis on September 23, 1806. The President of the United States Jefferson had believed that these people could be left for around a year and therefore had dreaded for their protection. It has taken the Clark and Lewis Expedition for about two years, four months, and nine days to travel crossway to the western part of the region and to come back.
The President of the United States Jefferson’s instructions to Lewis was so widespread as to be nearly unbearable to achieve. However, he observed the Expedition as a marvelous achievement. The detections made by the travellers reformed the visualization of this new nation. No waterway towards the Pacific Ocean was discovered, but precise and full maps were made. The peaceable interaction was made with Native American people, and trading methods were deliberated. The form of information added to the systematic community showed to be priceless, and huge spreads of North America had been discovered. Clark and Lewis‘s “voyage of discovery” become one of Thomas Jefferson’s supreme lasting legacies.
Works Cited
Burroughs, Raymond Darwin, et al. Natural History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Michigan State University Press, 1995.
Clark, Frank Henry, and An Amazing Journey. Lewis and Clark Expedition. Boston College, 1927.
Clark, Lewis &., and Elliott Coues. The History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Dover Publications, 2012. (H)
Miller, Robert J. Lewis, and Clark Expedition. 2008.
Hamen, Susan E. Lewis, and Clark Expedition. ABDO, 2008.
Allen, John Logan. Passage through the Garden: Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest. Univ of Illinois Pr, 1975.
Lewis, Meriwether, et al. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Journals of Joseph Whitehouse, May 14, 1804-April 2, 1806. Vol. 11, U of Nebraska Press, 1997.
