Third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was interested in the western lands between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. On April 30, 1803 Napoleon (France) decided to sell all of Louisiana to the United States, this became known as The Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase gave Jefferson both a reason and an opportunity to continue his dream of westward exploration. Jefferson wanted to know Louisiana's geographical features, the length and location of its rivers, its potential for economic and agricultural development. Also, the location and number of its Indian tribes, possible sites for forts and trading posts to protect future settlers, and possibilities for settlements. Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to lead the expedition to the west.
It took Jefferson, Lewis and Clark many years of hard work to plan and prepare for exploring the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. It was a challenging and dangerous trip, yet exciting and rewarding. Finally on August 31, 1803 Lewis set out in his keelboat, flat-bottomed, large dugout “canoe”, for Louisville where he met up with Clark on October 15, 1803. Lewis and Clark along with many hired hands began their “Corps of Discovery” journey.
The Corps of Discovery mission was to find an all-water route to the Pacific, meet and observe Indian groups and map out the new territory. As you begin your journey to discovery as a reporter, look at Lewis’ and Clarks’ attempts to create peaceful relations among many Indian Tribes as they traveled. How successful were they? As a reporter, use these websites as a guide to obtain information for your research to write your article from the task page.
WEBSITES
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/archive/idx_map.html
Map of Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Shows both the inbound and outbound routes.
PBS website gives out a wide range of
information.
www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/
Within this
website, these are the places that are the most helpful on your journey.
The Corps - Gives biographical information about the members of
the Corps of Discovery.
To Equip an Expedition - Provides a partial list of the supplies Lewis
and Clark brought on the expedition.
Circa 1803 - Puts the expedition into a historical and political
context, investigating popular misconceptions of the West, as well as
Jefferson’s motivations for exploring it.
A Timeline of the Trip - This gives a timeline of events leading up
to, during and aftermath of the exploration.
The Native Americans - This page has links to various Indian
Tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered. The following are tribes
to
concentrate your main research with.
*Arikara
*Nez Perce
*Hidatsas
*Oto
*Mandan
*Teton Sioux (the Lakota)
*Missouri
*Yankton Souix
www.lewis-clark.org/choice.htm
www.mt.net/~rojomo/landc.htm
Expedition at 3 Forks. You will
want to click on the letters on the leftside.
www.lemhishoshone.com/
Sacajewa, The Shoshones Tribe
Page made by Kay
