Compare And Contrast The Lewis And Clark Expedition

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

foreign policy put out in a speech by President James Monroe on December 2, 1823. Its four basic principles were that the U.S. would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers, that the U.S. would not interfere with existing European colonies in the Western Hemisphere, that the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization and that if a European nation tried to control or interfere with a nation in the Western Hemisphere, the United States would view it as a hostile act against this nation. This came about because of growing concern that Spain would reclaim sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere and the fact that Russia was expanding southward toward the Oregon Territory and had territorial ambitions in the Pacific Northwest. The British supported this idea because they too had concern that after France helped put down a rebellion against the Spanish monarch that this might lead to a joint French-Spanish expedition to retake the Latin American colonies for Spain. British foreign minister George Canning suggested to American minister in London, Richard Rush that a joint declaration opposing such a development would be in both their interests. The Doctrine was successful in keeping the Spanish from reviving its empire, mostly because of the strength of England’s Navy not because of the American military which was still very limited. The Monroe Doctrine was a significant moment in United States rise to power in the international community. It became the fundemental American foreign policy and has been built upon by many American leaders. Teddy Roosevelt enhanced it with his Roosevelt Corollary saying that any wrongdoing with in the Western Hemisphere could cause American intervention. It was also cited by President Kennedy during the Cold War. It was also used by President Reagan in 1983 to justification for the invasion of Grenada. It’s also thought to be a reason for the rise of