Compare And Contrast Lewis And Clark

Lewis and Clark are to American explorers who are still idolized to this day. The exploration of the west happened over 200 years ago. Their journey started in 1804 and didn’t end until 1806. The reason being is that they were the first successful American expedition to explore the west. In 1804 Thomas Jefferson contracted them to explore the west and in doing so to be diplomats with the Indians and to be scientists during the expedition. They had many different goals while out there one was to find out how American’s would be received by the native Americans. They were also supposed to look at different minerals, plants, and animals while out west.

The Lewis and Clark expedition wasn't the first expedition to go out west but it was the first

While looking for more minerals they also found many different fossils for example in the early part of the journey they found a fossil that was about 45 feet long and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a fish but a mezoic creature that wouldn’t be named until the late 1920’s. On this expedition, Lewis and Clark were supposed to find new profitable plants or plants that have a medicinal purpose as well. Also, they were supposed to look for new species of animals and the animals that they were looking for should have lots of fur. While they were out there they were supposed to see if you could get from the headwaters of the Missouri River to the headwater of the Columbian River. Thomas Jefferson wanted to know if there was a good commercial route by using the two rivers. Lewis and Clark were supposed to see what the competition was doing out west. Finally, they were supposed to assert American influence in a place where many different countries had an influence such as the British, the Russians, And the

First I’ll look at the rivers that they were on. While out west Lewis and Clark were supposed to find a way to go from the headwaters of the Missouri to the headwaters of the Columbian River. They were successful in finding the route from the Missouri to the Columbian but they determined that the route they found was not practical for commoners to use. This is one of many ways in which Lewis and Clark were successful. Another way in which they were successful was in the way that they brought back drawings of different animals and physical plants from out west. Most of the plants that they brought back ended up being grown at Thomas Jefferson’s garden. While out west Lewis and Clark found many new species of animals and of fish. In total Lewis and Clark found over 100 mammals, birds, reptiles and fish along with over a 100 new plant