Lewis and clark corps of discovery journal

This water link would connect the Pacific Ocean with the Mississippi River system, thus giving the new western land access to port markets out of the Gulf of Mexico and to eastern cities along the Ohio River and its minor tributaries. Jefferson hoped that Lewis and Clark would find a water route linking the Columbia and Missouri rivers.

Lewis so respected Clark that he made him a co-commanding captain of the Expedition, even though Clark was never recognized as such by the government. Lewis solicited the help of William Clark due to Clark's abilities as a draftsman and frontiersman, which were even stronger than Lewis's. Meriwether Lewis was an intelligent and literate man who also possessed skills as a frontiersman. Students will plot these documents on a historic map of the West. Students will learn that the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore west of the Mississippi River in 1804 - though the land was already inhabited and politically complicated.В Primary sources demonstrateВ various political interests, including those of the Spanish, French, British, and several Native American tribes.

Lewis & Clark's Expedition to the Complex West, available on, can be used as an introduction or for a closer study of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Lewis and clark corps of discovery journal