Meriwether Lewis was born in Ivy, Virginia in 1774. William Clark was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1770. In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson asked Lewis to act as his private secretary. President Jefferson offered Lewis another offer. This offer was to lead an expedition to the western part of Mississippi. Lewis was already eager to start the trip. He immediately contacted his old friend, William Clark, to co-command the expedition. President Jefferson asked Lewis to gather information on plants, animals, and people. Lewis also bought samples of animals and plants he came across with.
Lewis and Clark along with the rest of the group started their expedition journey at St. Louis, Missouri in May 1804. Lewis and his group found many Native people while they continued their journey westward. The Mandans were the one’s who provided the group with supplies for the first winter they were going through. When they continued their journey two more members joined the expedition, Sacagawea and
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While they were doing this expedition, Lewis came across a rock. This rock’s formation was named after Sacagawea’s son, Pompy’s Tower.
Lewis and Clark joined their two groups together at the Missouri River. They followed their way back to St.Louis together. Lewis and Clark traveled about 8,000 miles by boat, on foot, and on a horse.
Lewis and members of the group who traveled with Lewis had received a warm welcome. Some towns help special event for the explorers who returned when they passed by. When Lewis has arrived in Washington, he received a payment for his courageous efforts of searching the territory. After being paid, he was announced as the governor of the Louisiana Territory. The United States bought the Louisiana Territory from the French Napoleon Bonaparte on April 30, 1803. President Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory for 15 million dollars. When this happened it became known as the, Louisiana
Lewis and Clark were the exploring duo that made history in the exploration of America. With the help from their entourage, Sacagawea, and others they successful explored the land President Jefferson purchased known as the Louisiana Purchase. The territories of Louisiana offered more than just the new areas but a hope for ways around North America`s coast. Meriwether Lewis was an explorer and solider born August 18,1774 near Ivy, Virginia. He grew up on Locust Hill plantation neighboring Monticello where Jefferson lived.
Lewis and Clark were known for an incredible journey that changed US history. The journey increased the size of the US dramatically. From May 14, 1804, to September 23, 1806, a dangerous but yet history changing exploration occurred. Through many dangerous situations and hardships, the expedition of Lewis and Clark turned out a success.
On the way home they split apart from each other to go separate ways to try to find a faster way back home. Lewis and Clark finally found each other again at the Missouri River and made the last part of their trip back to St. Louis. They traveled about 8,000 miles either by foot, boat, or horseback. They traveled to Washington, D.C. While they were traveling, they were greeted by people of every town they stopped in.
From the start of their, Lewis and Clark embraced their old abilities and were regularly documenting the new features that Louisiana held. While Lewis was creating highly detailed maps of the land, Clark spent his time on land, documenting previously undiscovered animals (pictured below), plants, and geographic features. The expedition started smoothly, and by the end of July, the group had traveled more than 600 miles on the river. However, to the group’s unease, not one Indian had been seen or encountered. That was until the beginning of August, when the Corps of Discovery was finally given the opportunity to make a good first impression on the Native Americans.
The Lewis and Clarke Expedition took place in 1804 and lasted two years. Explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, led this expedition in order to gather information on new territory that was yet to be explored. Appointed by James Monroe, Lewis and Clark made their journey through the American interior to the Pacific Northwest. On their way there, they ran into two interpreters that aided them along the way: Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Accompanied by these two individuals, Lewis and Clark were able to make a successful trip back to their town and publish the journals that they documented during this trip.
Lewis served as Jefferson’s private secretary for about a year and a half when Jefferson asked Lewis to lead the expedition through the Louisiana Territory, Lewis gladly accepted and asked William Clark to serve as co-captain whom also accepted (Harper). Together Lewis and Clark gathered over thirty men and created The Corps of Discovery (Harper). Lewis and Clark along with The Corps of Discovery successfully Navigated and Documented the Louisiana Territory (Harper). After the expedition Jefferson made Lewis the governor of the Louisiana Territory (Harper). During his time as governor Lewis did many things, he oversaw the creation of the Territory of Arkansas, and he ordered for the creation of a road connecting St. Louis and New Madrid, Missouri (Harper).
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.
Lewis and Clark Expedition Thomas Jefferson once said “ The work we are doing is, I trust, done for posterity, in such a way that they need not repeat it. We shall delineate with correctness the great arteries of this great country; those who came after us will fill up the canvas we begin” In 1803, Thomas Jefferson purchased the louisiana territory from France. The urge to explore the new lands and find new waterways overcome Jefferson and in 1804 the trip began. “This was a huge tract of over 800,000 square miles, taking in nearly the entire mid-section of North America from present-day Texas and Louisiana up to Montana and North Dakota. This almost doubled the size of the new country”.
In preparation for the trip Lewis and Albert Gallatin, who was Thoams Jefferson's secretary of Treasury, collected the most recent maps and printed accounts representing and outlining the unknown country of the west. They also collected information about the land from the native people. The information collected was vital to the start of their expedition.
Lewis chose a good friend of his, William Clark, to help out and decided Clark should be the commander of the journey. Their expedition began in May, 1804 near St. Louis, Missouri. They went through many hardships such as harsh weather, illnesses, rough waters, starvation, and injuries. Throughout their expedition, Lewis kept a journal and collected samples of plants and animals he came across. They finally reached the Pacific Ocean in November, 1805, and spent that winter in Oregon.
Jefferson gave Lewis permission to find a co-captain for the journey. Lewis chose William Clark for this position. While in the military, Lewis met Clark, the captain of the Chosen Rifle Company, where they became friends and admirers of each other. Lewis chose Clark even though they had only known each other for six months. Lewis felt Clark could be helpful in places where he wasn’t the strongest.
On June 20th 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to Captain Meriwether Lewis. In the letter, Jefferson is appointing Lewis as commander of an expedition that is to take place in Western America. Jefferson’s instructions involved getting a group of military men to explore the West and find its water passage across the continent “for the purposes of commerce”, discovering new plants and
“In the spring of 1804, Lewis and Clark’s fifty-member ‘corps of discovery’ set out from the St. Louis... After crossing the Rocky Mountains, the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean in the area of present-day
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to have the Lewis and Clark expedition find a waterway that could connect the United States for transportation because he had aspirations to expand to the Pacific and Northwest making the expedition important to his agenda for the United States. (The Corp of Discovery, 2016). Another reason for the important expedition was to create a relationship with the American Indians, and the American fur trade, while learning the North American topography and geography of the land which was also important to the exploration (Corps of Discover, 2016). Thomas Jefferson was important to the Lewis and Clark expedition because he organized the journey, sought funding and made Lewis and Clark head
Many things have happened in our Nation’s history to make it as great as it is today, one of those being The Louisiana Purchase. Without this purchase, our nation wouldn’t be half the size it is now. This purchase created the United States of America. Back in 1802, when everything was being settled, President Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the United States Representative in France, known as Robert R. Livingston.