What Is The Significance Of The Lewis And Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition Imagine going from the nice spring weather to strong winds and freezing cold winters for two years. This is what Meriwether Lewis and William Clark went tough on their two year expedition searching for the Northwest passage. Now, while you might think they had it easy, Lewis, Clark and their expedition crew went through many challenges while exploring the new land. From finding food to eat, to making alliances with different Indian tribes, this journey was anything but easy. The Lewis and Clark expedition is very important to the US for many many reasons. Thomas Jefferson, determined to find this so called Northwest Passage, sent a group of few men to find this crossing. The Northwest Passage was a series of rivers

One big moment when Meriwether, William, and more of the group came about a few Lakota. During an interview with Dayton Duncan, Co producer of “Lewis and Clark” and co-author of the companion book, Dayton says, “ The warriors had their arrows ready to go and Lewis and Clark and their men had their guns ready to fire. And if it hadn’t been for the cool-headedness of the Sioux Chiefs, not Lewis or Clark, it would have come to blows and if it did, that would have been the end of the expedition.” (PBS) With that being stated, Lewis and Clark needed to be allies with the Lakota in order to travel up the Missouri river. In order to be able to continue their trip, Lewis and Clark had to make friends with the natives along the way. Overall, Lewis and Clark “had great relations with the native peoples” and never really ran into any major problems with exception of the Lakota and Blackfeet.(PBS) Lewis and some men ran into some Blackfeet and when it broke out into a mini battle, they killed 2 Blackfeet but no one from the expedition crew died. Another thing that Lewis and Clark had to overcome was the weather. When heading “Down the Columbia” Lewis and Clark faced high winds, horrible storms, and much rotted and worn out clothing. (Lewis And Clark Journals) Jefferson’s goal for the corps of discovery was to find an easy route to the northwest passage, but instead had the complete opposite. One of those not so easy routes was the Trail through the Bitterroot Mountains. The journey though the trail took just about 11 days and half of the crew members got deeply malnourished. Mosquitos were also another major problem. Crew members would face multiple bites during the hot summers. Few would have to face low swelling because of how many bites they received. Discipline on the frontiers was strict. Groups of 8 men, called messes, would each split up to take care of their