Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led thirty-three people on the most dangerous journey west from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. Those leaders commanded the Corps of Discovery through starvation in the Rockies, created peace between natives and white men, and achieved an unparalleled exploration that mankind has never repeated. Meriwether Lewis was born on August 18, 1774, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Lewis was an avid outdoorsman in his childhood; he spent his time hunting and exploring. After his childhood exploring, he became more comfortable with being out away from civilization. At an experienced age of 20, Lewis fought against the Whiskey Rebellion: a group that protested the taxation of whiskey. He stayed in the army for six …show more content…
Jefferson imagined that if we helped them now, they would not want to attack us in a state of war. Jefferson also wanted them to learn their culture so we could negotiate with them. Clark was very good with communicating with others to try and learn some Indian languages. The communication between the Indians was complicated to learn, but they did eventually learn who was a friend and who was a foe. After the debriefing was completed, Lewis and Clark joined up with the others of the group and headed out into uncharted territory. The Corps of Discovery left out of St. Charles, Missouri on May 21, 1804, headed west in a long boat called a keelboat. The group went up the Missouri river until June when they entered the Platte River. The group has not encountered any humans besides themselves in over a month. The Corps continued up the river, and on August 2nd, the group met the first Indians. The Indians were a group of Oto and Missouri Indians who were indeed friendly. The Corps exchanged gifts with the Indians, but they warned about the Sioux up north. President Jefferson had told Lewis and Clark of their power in the west and how they should go about meeting the …show more content…
As the boat tipped Sacagawea frantically grabbed as many journals from the river as she could. All of this history could have been lost if Sacagawea did not retrieve the journals from the water. Now our leaders were eager to lay eyes on the Rocky Mountains. They knew that it would hinder the progress of them. In the last week of May, they saw the enormous mountains and just began to realize how much of a challenge they had in store. In early June the journeyers came to a major decision: south or west. There was a divide in the river, and the leaders thought that they should go south, but the others disagreed. They could not make the wrong choice. They thought that they could use scouting parties, but they did not come back with answers. The party decided to go south after many debates. The group found five falls; however, they were supposed to find one. This means that they would need to spend much more time than initially planned. The group would have to travel around dangerous waters for over a month. As they traveled, the pressure of the size of the Rocky Mountains grew more and
Born August 18, 1774; Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, politician, public administrator, and the leader of the Louisiana expedition group known as the Corps of Discovery. During the first few years of his life, Meriwether grew up on his family’s estate in Ivy Creek, Virginia. After the death of Meriwether’s father in 1779, Meriwether’s mother Lucy Meriwether remarried to John Marks who later moved the family to Broad River Valley, Georgia in 1780. At his new home, Meriwether was influenced by his love for natural history and spent most of his time improving his skills as an outdoorsman, and it is said that he would go out hunting with his dogs at the age of eight. Meriwether’s mother who was a regionally-known herbalist
Captain Lewis, former secretary of the President, led the expedition. He invited Captain Clark, a former army officer, to join him. "The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course & communication with the water of the
They were sent off to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. This exploration played a major role in the exploration of America as a whole. They travelled around 8,000 miles in less than two and a half years with a four dozen men entourage. The expedition was brought to the attention by President Thomas Jefferson. January 18th, 1803, he secretly told Congress to find and pay an officer $2,500 to explore the Missouri river, meet Indians, expand the fur trade, and locate the Northwest Passage.
The document, Thomas Jefferson’s secret message to Congress about the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, tells us about Jefferson’s views of westward expansion and Native Americans. Jefferson really liked the idea of westward expansion; in addition, he saw the remarkable opportunities associated with it. Jefferson believed that the Native Americans could be coaxed into willingly giving up their land. The Americans were more deserving of Indian territories in the eyes of Jefferson, so he wanted to change their minds and get the Natives to hand over their land. Jefferson wanted to utilize two tactics to achieve this goal.
Lewis and Clark Expedition In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson managed to initiate the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which was also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, after the Purchase of Louisiana, which was considered one of his highlights during his political career, marking the first government-sponsored exploration. President Thomas appointed Meriwether Lewis, the private secretary of the president, to be the Commander of the Expedition. Lewis also asked his close friend William Clark, who Lewis had served with in the army, to help him with the expedition and he actually named Clark the co-commander of the expedition. Generally speaking, the expedition had a significant impact on American history.
LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 President Jefferson appointed his own private secretary Meriwether Lewis as Commander in charge to explore the unknown territory. Lewis then invited William Clark is former superior officer to be his Co-commander. They set out from Camp Dubois and were to explore the new territory, affirm the sovereignty of the US, find a water way to the Pacific, and establish trade with the Natives. Lewis and Clark commanded the Corps of Discovery which had 33 people, 26 being soldiers to include Sergeant Charles Floyd the only person to die on the expedition, one being Clark’s personal slave named York who would be given his freedom at the end of the expedition and one being Sacagawea
William Clark, The Exploration That Changed the World Ty Brown Riceville Community School I am talking about William Clark, and how we changed exploration. He gained a better knowledge of the United states. It will talk about everything he went through and everything he seen on his exploration. When Lewis and clark started their exploration conditions were terrible because they were always outside and were having to do everything on their own. Before Lewis and clark there were plans to explore the west, there would of been a first explorer named Michaax but they found out he was a secret agent for the French.
In the summer of 1803, Meriwether Lewis and his friend William Clark set off on their journey to the small town of St. Louis. It was at this town that Lewis and Clark would begin the exploration with their group, the Corps of Discovery, down the Missouri river and hopefully across the continent. When they reached the town in the winter of 1803, the two of them waited for President Thomas Jefferson to approve of the Louisiana Purchase that would grant the United States the Louisiana Territory. In 1804, the Louisiana Purchase was approved and the Corps of Discovery consisting of the leader, Meriwether Lewis; the coleader, William Clark; Clark’s slave, York; and more than 48 other members were finally allowed to begin their expedition. Under
The team spent the winter of 1803-1804 training at Camp Dubois in the Illinois Territory. They needed to be ready for anything the voyage might throw at them. On May 14, 1804, the team rowed upriver to St. Charles to meet up with Lewis where they would begin their
The Lewis and Clark expedition marked the first American expedition to cross what is now the western portion of the United States. The expedition occurred from the Louisiana Purchase which allowed Jefferson to turn away from his strict ideals of the Constitution to pull through with this purchase for the country's good. The Louisiana Purchase managed strong support by many Americans which lead to the Lewis and Clark expedition. The expeditions leaders were Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark who set out from St. Louis in 1804 and reached the Oregon coast on the Pacific Ocean. The two explorers turned back and completed the return journey in 1806.
On our trip to California, we (the Donner Party) were forced to face many unexpected hardships. At Alcove springs Grandmother Keyes died. Just past Fort Bridger we took the Hastings Cutoff, which we were informed saved 400 miles. The information was wrong. The shortcut added 100 miles to the journey.
Louis. They set out in large canoes, known as pirogues, and a large keelboat that was filled with numerous items to help the group survive. Thomas Jefferson had directed the group of explorers that they were to document "the face of the country". The group began their journey up the Missouri river through the harsh wilderness. The group was hoping to find out if the Missouri River, which Is the longest river in North America, made its way to the Pacific Ocean.
During the harsh journey through the mountains, The Donner Party’s last resort for surviving the winter was cannibalism! In 1845, a group of people called The Donner Party decided to trek through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to expand U.S. territory. During their trek, The Donner Party got trapped in 6 feet of snow and were stuck in the mountains. The Donner Party had a positive impact on the 1800’s because it expanded countries boundaries and made a faster course from San Francisco to Reno. U.S. territory was greatly expanded because of this.
Westward Expansion The idea of westward expansion was a pivotal point in our nation’s history. People were looking for something new and exciting. They found it in the form of adventure, excitement, fame, and untold riches! Two key events played a role in the move to push colonists farther into new territory.
The next month, I was shot in the thigh by one of my own men during a hunt. Clark and I joined up again at the Missouri River and made the rest of the trip to St. Louis together. In total, the expedition traveled roughly 8,000 miles by boat, on foot, and on