The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark, along with 30 others, set out from Camp Dubois (Camp Wood), Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806, at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, ending six months later on September 23. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition, shortly after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, to explore and detail as much of the new territory as possible. Furthermore, he wished to find a practical travel route across the western half of the continent—directly avoiding the hot and desolate desert southwest—and to establish an American presence in the new lands before European powers attempted to establish claims of their own. The campaign's secondary objectives were scientific, economical and humanitarian, i.e., to document the West's biodiversity, topography and geography and to establish positive trade relations with (potentially unknown) Native American tribes. The expedition returned to St. Louis to report their findings to President Jefferson via maps, sketches, and various journals.
Motivations One of Thomas Jefferson's goals was to find "the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce". He also attached special importance to declaring US sovereignty over the land inhabited by the many different Native American tribes along the Missouri River, and to securing an accurate sense of the resources in the recently completed Louisiana Purchase. The expedition made notable contributions to science, but scientific research was not the main goal of the mission.
Preparations For years, Thomas Jefferson read accounts about the adventures of various explorers on the western frontier, and, consequently, maintained a long-held interest in further exploring this mostly-unknown region of the continent. In the 1780s, while Minister to France, Jefferson met John Ledyard in Paris, where they discussed a possible trip to the Pacific Northwest. Jefferson had also read Captain James Cook's A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (London, 1784), an account of Cook's third voyage, and Le Page du Pratz's The History of Louisiana (London, 1763), all of which greatly influenced his decision to send an expedition. Like Captain Cook, he wished to discover a practical route through the Northwest to the Pacific coast. Alexander Mackenzie had already charted a route in his quest for the Pacific, following Canada's Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean in 1789. Mackenzie and his party were the first non-indigenous people to cross mainland North America, north of Mexico, reaching the Pacific coast of British Columbia in 1793–twelve years earlier than Lewis and Clark. Mackenzie's accounts in Voyages from Montreal (1801) informed Jefferson of Britain's intent to establish control over the lucrative fur trade of the Columbia River, convincing him of the importance of securing the territory posthaste. In Philadelphia, Israel Whelen, purveyor of public supplies, purchased necessities for the expedition with a list provided by Lewis; among the items found were 193 pounds of portable soup, 130 rolls of pigtail tobacco, 30 gallons of strong spirit of wine, a wide assortment of Native American presents, medical and surgical supplies, mosquito netting, and oilskin bags. Two years into his presidency, Jefferson asked Congress to fund an expedition through the Louisiana territory to the Pacific Ocean. He did not attempt to make a secret of the Lewis and Clark expedition from Spanish, French, and British officials, but rather claimed different reasons for the venture; he used a secret message to ask for funding, due to poor relations with the opposition Federalist Party in Congress. Congress subsequently appropriated $2,324 for supplies and food, the appropriation of which was left in Lewis's charge. In 1803, Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery and named Army Captain Meriwether Lewis its leader, who then invited William Clark to co-lead the expedition with him. Lewis demonstrated remarkable skills and potential as a frontiersman, and Jefferson made efforts to prepare him for the long journey ahead as the expedition was gaining approval and funding. Jefferson explained his choice of Lewis:
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
