Case:                Lewis and Clark Expedition

 

Theme:             Expanding Borders and Influence

 

Time Period:    Early Republic (1788-1815)

 

 

I.  Overview of Case Topic:

 

 

Following the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, the United States embarked on a century of exploration that focused entirely on the western half of North America. Initially, these efforts involved a certain amount of diplomatic intrigue and situated the new nation within the broader imperial contests that had so long occupied England, Spain, France and Russia. At the center of these various European concerns was the search for a Northwest Passage, a navigable waterway across North America that would link the commerce of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. While the existence of such a passage was a waning hope by 1800, the belief that who ever discovered this water route would eventually control the commerce of the continent had long been a consuming interest of President Thomas Jefferson. The success of two British explorers, namely George Vancouver’s mapping of the lower Columbia River in 1792 and Alexander MacKenzie’s journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean via the Frasier River in 1793, gave added urgency to Jefferson’s concerns and led to his support of two clandestine but unsuccessful attempts to find a land route between the Columbia and Missouri Rivers.

The fear that Great Britain might dominate the western half of North America ultimately led to the first official U.S. expedition to the West, the so-called “Corps of Discovery for Northwest Exploration” under the joint command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Setting out from Camp DuBois near present-day Alton, Illinois, in May 1804, the expedition traveled up the Missouri River to the villages of the Mandan Indians in what is now central North Dakota where they spent the winter. The following spring they resumed their trek across the continent, reached the head waters of the Missouri and crossed the Rocky Mountains, then traveled down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia Rivers to the Pacific Ocean, where the group of thirty-three individuals spent the winter. The following year they returned by a similar route, arriving in St. Louis in September 1806. The time spent west of the Rocky Mountains in the Columbia River drainage encompassed almost nine months, including three months near the mouth of the Columbia at Fort Clatsop (December 1805-March 1806). There were three other significant expeditions during Jefferson’s presidency, two by Zebulon Montgomery Pike and one under the direction of Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis. Except for the charge to find a route across the continent, all three mirrored the same concerns that inspired the more famous Lewis and Clark expedition.

 

II.  Connection to Theme/Time Matrix:

The Lewis and Clark expedition represents three fundamental aspects of U.S. exploration in the early nineteenth century: land assessment, Indian trade, and imperial rivalry. According to President Jefferson’s instructions, the expedition surveyed two major river systems “for the purposes of commerce,” sought to convince Native leaders of the “peaceful and commercial dispositions of the United States,” and observed “the character” of European concerns in the vicinity of the expedition route. Jefferson also made explicit his desire that expedition members pay special attention to “the soil and face of the country, it’s growth and vegetable productions,” and report on the potential of these lands for future commercial development and agricultural settlement.

While Jefferson had an eye on future acquisition and settlement of western lands, the more immediate interest in finding a transcontinental water route reflected the desire to make St. Louis the center of a global fur trade that extended to the Pacific and the markets of the Far East. Establishing diplomatic and commercial relations with Native leaders would also undermine the position of imperial rivals in North America’s lucrative fur trade, thus confirming the authority of the United States in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and bringing much needed revenue into the fledgling nation. Lewis and Clark did not find an easy route across the continent, but they at least proved that none existed. On all other counts they succeeded, establishing American authority beyond the Mississippi river and even providing a slim basis for future American claims to the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps most important is what the expedition and the “purposes of commerce” that sent it across the continent can reveal about Jeffersonian America; namely, the central importance of the federal government in developing Indian policy, organizing land acquisition, fostering an agricultural based economy, and fending off perceived threats from European powers.

 

 

III.  Historical Questions:

 

What were the various “purposes of commerce” that defined the Corps of Discovery?

 

Why was Jefferson so interested in assessing the agricultural qualities of the lands traversed by Lewis and Clark?

 

How does the need to secure the fur trade shape relations between the United States and Native peoples?

 

Why might Native groups want to trade with the United States? Why might they not?

 

Jefferson had three immediate goals for the Missouri River country: to set aside a place for the removal of Indians from the East; establish a profitable fur trade; and begin the process of establishing American farms. All of these were achieved in short order. What different goals did Jefferson have for the Oregon Country; why were these goals different; how well or poorly were they achieved?

 

How does Jefferson’s vision of agrarian expansion differ from other European interests in North America? Will Jeffersonian interests lead to greater conflict with Native peoples?

 

What were the short term (20-30 years) consequences of the Lewis and Clark expedition in the area generally known as the Oregon Country (present-day Oregon and Washington)?

 

How did Native peoples on the lower Columbia (from Celilo to the Pacific) respond to the expedition? What reasons can explain their reception of the Americans?

 

Is there any evidence to suggest that Lewis and Clark were particularly “sensitive” to Native communities or individuals?

 

How do Native peoples remember the expedition today? Why, or how, is that different from the memories of non-Indians?

 

 

IV.  Resources:

 

A.      Secondary Sources:

 

Allen, John Logan. Passage through the Garden: Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest. Dover Publications, Inc., 1991.

 

Beckham, Steven Dow and Robert M. Reynolds. Lewis & Clark from the Rockies to the Pacific, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 2002.

 

Furtwangler, Albert. Acts of Discovery: Visions of America in the Lewis and Clark Journals. University of Illinois Press, 1993.

 

Gibson, James R. "The Exploration of the Pacific Coast," in North American Exploration Vol. 2: A Continent Defined, John Logan Allen, ed. University of Nebraska Press, 1997

 

Gilman, Carolyn. Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide. University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

 

Ronda, James P. Lewis and Clark among the Indians. University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

 

            . Finding the West: Explorations with Lewis and Clark University of New Mexico Press, 2001.

 

Spence. The Ends of Lewis and Clark (chaps. 1 & 2). University Press of Kansas, forthcoming.

 

            . “Making History at the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.” Oregon Humanities (Spring 2004).

 

 

B.  Primary sources:

 

Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783-1854, 2d ed. 2 vols. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 57-60.

 

Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson: Writings: Autobiography, A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Notes on the State of Virginia, Public Papers, Addresses, Messages, and Replies, Miscellany, Letters. Merrill D. Peterson, ed. Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984.

 

Gary Moulton, ed., The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 11 vols. University of Nebraska Press, 1983-1997. [Also available, and searchable, on-line: < http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/index.html>]

 

 

C.  Primary Sources (Artifacts available on the web)

 

Peabody Museum, Harvard University. “The Ethnography of Lewis and Clark: Native American Objects and the American Quest for Commerce and Science” < http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/Lewis_and_Clark/>

 

Alderman Library, University of Virginia. “Lewis & Clark: The Maps of Exploration” <http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/lewis_clark/home.html>

 

“Lewis and Clark National Bicentennial Exhibition.” http://www.lewisandclarkexhibit.org/

 

Lifelong Learning Online. The Lewis & Clark Rediscovery Project (historical and contemporary commentary on the expedition from Native and non-Native perspectives, with particular emphasis on environmental contexts.) <http://l3.ed.uidaho.edu/index.asp>