Louisiana Purchase Explorations: Module 5

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In May of 1804, one of the most historically famous adventures started. It was the expedition of the Louisiana Purchase by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. It was an exploration that was commissioned by the president of the time, Thomas Jefferson. This expedition was held to find out what was in the newly purchased land. Meriwether Lewis was the official leader of the expedition at the age of 28 being the man that was originally selected by Jefferson and later those William Clark, who was 32, as his co-leader. The team that they started (which consisted of about fifty men) was later called the Corps of Discovery. They started at the Mississippi River and ended in what is now present-day Oregon (which was not part of the Louisiana Purchase.) They experienced many hardships and discovered many surprising things throughout their cross-country journey.

One of the main purposes of the expedition was to try and find a direct route to the Pacific Ocean using rivers and other water channels. Most of the explorations were done on rivers to try and achieve this feet. Of course, the explorers found that a direct water route to the Pacific Ocean did not exist stamping out all hope for a direct passage to Asia via water. They met the challenge to such a hope at the Rocky Mountains. At this point of their journey they had to cross the mountains by land proving there was no way to Asia across the continent.

Though it the exploration of Lewis and Clark is masked in glory, they did encounter great difficulties. Because they were trying to find a water route to Asia they came across many places of stagnant water (e.g. swamps), a favored breeding ground for mosquitoes. With so many mosquitoes around there was a great chance of death related to mosquito transmitted diseases, though I could not find any sources that could back up such a claim. Also, they encountered many occurrences of hunger because they did not know the land well enough to do well in hunting. Many of the problems that they faced were alleviated when they came across a French-Canadian fur trader by the name of Toussaint Charbonneau who was married to an Indian woman named Sacagawea. Sacagawea proved to be a very influential part to the success of the expedition by being an interpreter, peacemaker, and negotiator.

Even though Lewis and Clark never accomplished the trade route via water mission they did not come back to Jefferson empty-handed. With the help of Sacagawea they were able to find the uses of many of the local plants and herb, see the potential for hunting, and establish peaceful contact with the native inhabitants. Of course, after the famed expedition there were copious amounts of propaganda to try and get people to move out west to have people own their own land and make a profit of the fertile lands to the west. This would never have been possible without Lewis and Clark.

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 2 vols. 263-64.

"Lewis and Clark expedition." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008.
Encyclopedia.com. 19 Jul. 2009 .

Weiser, Kathy. "Corps of Discovery - The Lewis and Clark Expedition." Legands of America, 2007. 19 July 2009 .

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