Lewis and Clark Expedition

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses two major achievements of the Jefferson administration; the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The paper examines what spurred Jefferson to launch the expedition and relates its important results, including mapping the route, meeting, detailing and forming a bond with many of the Indian tribes along the way, as well as the scientific investigation of plants, geology and animal species. The paper shows how this expedition would lead the way for the great expansion into the West.

From the Paper:

"One of the major achievements of the Jefferson administration was the Louisiana Purchase, taking over the vast and at the time unknown Louisiana territory as a protection for the right of deposit and to assure the right of access to the mouth of the Mississippi and New Orleans. Another major achievement occurred when Jefferson sent out the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore Louisiana and the region beyond, and the expedition located several passes across the Rockies and established friendly relations with many Indian tribes. This Oregon territorial region was an enormous wilderness north of California up to the line of 54o 40', or the present tip of the Alaska panhandle. Four nations had claimed part of this territory at one time or another--Spain, Russia, Britain, and the United States. Captain Robert Gray had found the Columbia River in 1792, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition had explored through to the Pacific in 1804-1806. In 1845 a small part of the territory was in dispute and would be an issue in the presidential election of 1844."

Sample of Sources Used:

• De Voto, Bernard. The Course of Empire. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1952.
• Fritz, Harry W. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. New York: Greenwood Publishing, 2004.
• "History of the Expedition." The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (2008). April 28, 2008. http://libtextcenter.unl.edu/examples/servlet/transform/tamino/Library/lewisandclarkjournals?&_xmlsrc=http://libtextcenter.unl.edu/lewisandclark/files/xml/introduction.general.xml&_xslsrc=http://libtextcenter.unl.edu/lewisandclark/LCstyles.xsl.
• Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson and the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981.
• Onuf, Peter S. "The Revolution of 1803." The Wilson Quarterly 27(1)(Winter 2003), 22-29.

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