Lewis and Clark

Thomas Jefferson asked fellow Virginian Merriwether Lewis to lead an exhibition to the Louisiana Territory. Lewis then asked his friend and fellow soldier William Clark to help lead the exhibition.

Their mission was both scientific and political. Jefferson wanted the group chart a water route to the Pacific Ocean. This would allow American merchants to trade with nations in Asia and increase American commerce. Jefferson also ordered the group to catalogue and chronicle the plant and animal life that they encountered on their journey. The men kept journals of the trip detailing the different species they had seen along the way as well as the climate of the land they journeyed through. These journals would become helpful for future American farmers that moved into the lands that Lewis and Clark explored.

On the political side of the trip, the men had a very important job. They represented the United States of America whenever they encountered Native American tribes. They were ambassadors for the U.S. As representatives of the U.S., they were ordered by the President to try and establish peaceful relationships with the tribes that they met. Jefferson also wanted the group to gather as much information on the tribes as possible. These facts would allow Americans to further their understandings of the different native groups in the American West.

Jefferson wrote various letters to Captain Lewis before he left for his journey. Tonight you are analyzing two of those letters, one written in June of 1803, and the other was written in January of 1804. He instructed the men on the following: how to behave towards the tribes, what to tell the tribes, and what to ask them.

Tonight for H.W.

1. define the following terms: endeavor, conciliatory, simultaneously, lament, and immense.

2. Read the letters Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis

3. Fill in the chart of Jefferson's instructions.