Meriwether Lewis And Clark Expedition Of 1803: Louisiana Purchase

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In 1803, France sold approximately 875,000 square miles of their land to the United States, known as the Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to investigate this new, unexplored land for three main reasons, to map and explore the land, to start trading deals with the Native Americans living there, and to try to find a water route linking the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River.[1] Jefferson established the Corps of Discovery, a branch of the Army specifically made for this task, and put Meriwether Lewis in charge of it, who then asked William Clark to help him lead. Lewis was a soldier in the U.S. Army and Jefferson’s personal secretary from 1801 to 1803, and was later appointed as Governor of the Louisiana Territory four years later.[3] Clark was Lewis’ close friend from the Army and an avid frontiersman. William Clark started recruiting men to join the Corps of Discovery at Camp River Dubois, north of St. Louis, Missouri, and was able to gather a total of approximately 50 people. They packed up their supplies, left Camp Dubois on May 14, 1804, and met up with Meriwether Lewis at St. Charles Missouri. Ready to set off on their expedition, they follow the Missouri River for as long as possible until they reach the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide.[2] Travel conditions during the first few months were very …show more content…

At one point, when the Corps tried to cross through Sioux-controlled land, native warriors tried to hijack William Clark’s canoe. However, the expedition group was armed with weapons and prepared to fight. The Sioux chief, Black Buffalo, eventually calmed the situation down.[6] This incident shows the tense relations between certain native tribes and the Corps. The United States Mint made “Indian Peace Medals” for the Corps to distribute to different tribes to promote peace and allow passage through their

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