The Lewis and Clark Exploration

The Lewis and Clark Exploration

Lewis and Clark are two names forever linked. These two names, the last names of

Meriwether and William respectively, are that of two of the greatest explorers in the

history of the United States. With the help of Indians and a group of brave men, the vast

area west of the Mississippi River was the object of their exploration.

Lewis was born to a Virginia planter family in 1774. His father, who had been an officer

in the American Revolution, died when Lewis was five years old, and for a brief time he

lived in Georgia when his mother moved there with her second husband.

After assuming the management of his family's Virginia plantation, Lewis joined the

state militia in 1794 to help put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania. He

continued his military career as an officer in the regular army, serving on the frontier in

Ohio and Tennessee, and rising to the rank of captain by 1801, when he accepted an

invitation from President Thomas Jefferson, an old family friend, to serve as his private

secretary.

Even before the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France, Jefferson was ready to

send an expedition into the frontier. In January of 1803 Congress approved a plan for an

expedition. Jefferson had many reasons for employing the explorers. A boundless

curiosity for botany, zoology, and geography was one of Jefferson's main reasons. Also

Jefferson wanted to establish communication and some interaction with the Indians.

The purchase of the Louisiana Territory was an entirely unexpected outcome. Robert

Livingston, an ambassador to France, was told to discuss the purchase of the port of New

Orleans from France. After weeks of fruitless efforts to buy t...

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...als brought back by the Corps took some of the fear away from

settlers wanting to move into the territory. The fur trade in the west was also expanded

greatly by the expedition. The United States' claim to the Oregon Country became

stronger then Britain's by virtue of their exploration and presence in the territory.

The expedition could not have survived without the Indians. Despite this fact, however,

the expedition hurt the Indians. The door was opened for American settlers to move into

the territory and to try to force the Indians out of the territory.

The west will forever be linked with Lewis and Clark, the two men who opened its

doors. With undaunted courage and patriotic spirit these explorers survived an arduous

journey through the uncharted lands of the Louisiana Territory and placed themselves

among the greatest explorers of all time.