Compare And Contrast Lewis And Clark Expedition

As mentioned there were numerous goals of the expedition, each rivaling one another for their level of importance. Perhaps one of the most important goals of the expedition was to introduce diplomatic relations to the Native Americans that they were surely to encounter along their journey, as well as, gain access to trade rights with the Indians. Under the terms of Louisiana Purchase, the Americans, in this case, Lewis & Clark were to notify the Indians of the new sovereignty of the United States. Jefferson also had specifically instructed Lewis and Clark to form suitable relations with the Natives in order to carry out linguistic and ethnological studies.

Along the journey, the explorers encountered nearly fifty Native American tribes,

Conceivably the Hidatsa had the most influential interaction with Lewis and Clark due to the fact that this tribe is responsible for and credited with the introduction of Sacagawea to the expedition. Sacagawea was married to a fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau who was a member of the expedition and he, as well as, Lewis and Clark encouraged her to join the team. She brought many talents and skills to the adventure, including being able to converse with and establishing good relations among the other Indian Tribes they faced. William Clark stated “A woman with a party of men is a token of peace”. Another momentous benefit happened when one of the boats capsized by strong winds and Sacagawea saved many of the journals and documents from the journey. Without her, these findings would have been lost

They were an amicable group of people who lived on the upper Missouri River. The Mandan were instrumental in the expedition’s survival during the winter of 1804 by allowing the group to build a fort; Fort Mandan. This fort supplied the group with shelter and the tribe provided them with food throughout the winter. In contrast, the Teton Sioux’s interaction with the group were quite the opposite of the former tribes. Instead of welcoming the explorers with open arms they were met with a war party. The Teton Sioux had the military force to devastate the expedition, however, conflict was narrowly avoided. The Sioux ended up hosting the group for a number of days before the expedition group moved on due to multiple confrontations between the two. Many of the group were frightened and suspicious of these “savages”. Much of this fear escalated with the descriptions introduced by Lewis and Clark’s journals, upon their return. The full extent of the impact of the journey took effect in the mid 1830’s. Indians were removed from their homeland and killed. This was directly attributed to the Lewis and Clark expedition which spurred the movement. Although it most likely was not the intentions of the group, their effects on Westward Expansion was the beginning to an end for Native Americans, and has left impressions on history that are still present