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Use this link to view actual documents drafted and signed for the Louisiana Purchase. Chose one to read and discuss.

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The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress

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Background In 1803, the United States doubled in size at the stroke of a pen. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty, which was signed in April of that year and ratified by the Senate in October, transferred hundreds of millions of acres of land west of the Mississippi River from France to the U.S. for a few…

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Who Were Lewis and Clark?

Meriwether Lewis was born in Virginia in 1774 but spent his early childhood in Georgia. He returned to Virginia as a teenager to receive his education and graduated from college in 1793. He then joined the Virginia state militia-where he helped to put down the Whiskey Rebellion-and later became a captain in the U.S. Army. At age 27 he became personal secretary to President Thomas Jefferson.

William Clark was also born in Virginia in 1770 but moved with his family to Kentucky at age 15. At age 19, he joined the state militia and then the regular Army, where he served with Lewis and was eventually commissioned by President George Washington as a lieutenant of infantry.

In 1796, Clark returned home to manage his family's estate. Seven years later, Lewis chose him to embark on the epic excursion that would help shape America's history.

Louisiana Purchase

During the French and Indian War, France surrendered a large part of Louisiana to Spain and almost all of its remaining lands to Great Britain.

Initially, Spain's acquisition didn't have a major impact since it still allowed the United States to travel the Mississippi River and use New Orleans as a trade port. Then Napoleon Bonaparte took power in France in 1799 and wanted to regain France's former territory in the United States.

In 1802, King Charles IV of Spain returned the Louisiana Territory to France and revoked America's port access. In 1803, under the threat of war, President Jefferson and James Monroe successfully negotiated a deal with France to purchase the Louisiana Territory-which included about 827,000 square miles-for $15 million.

Even before negotiations with France were finished, Jefferson asked Congress to finance an expedition to survey the lands of the so-called Louisiana Purchase and appointed Lewis as expedition commander.

Preparations for the Lewis and Clark Expedition

preparations immediately. He studied medicine, botany, astronomy and zoology and scrutinized existing maps and journals of the region. He also asked his friend Clark to co-command the expedition.

Even though Clark was once Lewis' superior, Lewis was technically in charge of the trip. But for all intents and purposes, the two shared equal responsibility.

On July 5, 1803, Lewis visited the arsenal at Harper's Ferry to obtain munitions. He then rode a custom-made, 55-foot keelboat-also called "the boat" or "the barge"-down the Ohio River and joined Clark in Clarksville, Indiana. From there, Clark took the boat up the Mississippi River while Lewis continued along on horseback to collect additional supplies.

Some of the supplies collected were:

surveying instruments including compasses, quadrants, telescope, sextants and a chronometer

camping supplies including oilcloth, steel flints, tools, utensils, corn mill, mosquito netting, fishing equipment, soap and salt

clothing

weapons and ammunition

medicines and medical supplies

books on botany, geography and astronomy

maps

Lewis also collected gifts to present to Native Americans along the journey such as:

Corps of Discovery

Lewis entrusted Clark to recruit men for their "Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery," or simply the Corps of Discovery. Throughout the winter of 1803-1804, Clark recruited and trained men at Camp DuBois north of St. Louis, Missouri. He chose unmarried, healthy men who were good hunters and knew survival skills.

The expedition party included 45 souls including Lewis, Clark, 27 unmarried soldiers, a French-Indian interpreter, a contracted boat crew and an enslaved person owned by Clark named York.

On May 14, 1804, Clark and the Corps joined Lewis in St. Charles, Missouri and headed upstream on the Missouri River in the keelboat and two smaller boats at a rate of about 15 miles per day. Heat, swarms of insects and strong river currents made the trip arduous at best.

To maintain discipline, Lewis and Clark ruled the Corps with an iron hand and doled out harsh punishments such as bareback lashing and hard labor for those who got out of line.

On August 20 of that year, 22-year-old Corps member Sergeant Charles Floyd died of an abdominal infection, possibly appendicitis. He was the only member of the Corps to die on their journey.

Native American Encounters

Most of the land Lewis and Clark surveyed was already occupied by Native Americans. In fact, the Corps encountered around 50 different Native American tribes including the Shoshone, the Mandan, the Minitari, the Blackfeet, the Chinook and the Sioux.

Lewis and Clark developed a first contact protocol for meeting new tribes. They bartered goods and presented the tribe's leader with a Jefferson Indian Peace Medal, a coin engraved with the image of Thomas Jefferson on one side and an image of two hands clasped beneath a tomahawk and a peace pipe with the inscription, "Peace and Friendship" on the other.

They also told the Indians that America owned their land and offered military protection in exchange for peace.

Some Indians had met "white men" before and were friendly and open to trade. Others were wary of Lewis and Clark and their intentions and were openly hostile, though seldom violent.

In August, Lewis and Clark held peaceful Indian councils with the Odo, near present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the Yankton Sioux at present-day Yankton, South Dakota.

In late September, however, they encountered the Teton Sioux, who weren't as accommodating and tried to stop the Corps' boats and demanded a toll payment. But they were no match for the military weapons of the Corps, and soon moved on.

Fort Mandan

In early November, the Corps came across villages of friendly Mandan and Minitari Indians near present-day Washburn, North Dakota, and decided to set up camp downriver for the winter along the banks of the Missouri River.

Within about four weeks they'd built a triangular-shaped fort called Fort Mandan, which was surrounded by 16-foot pickets and contained quarters and storage rooms.

The Corps spent the next five months at Fort Mandan hunting, forging and making canoes, ropes, leather clothing and moccasins while Clark prepared new maps. According to Clark's journal, the men were in good health overall, other than those suffering from sexually transmitted infections.

Sacagawea

While at Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clark met French-Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau and hired him as an interpreter. They allowed his pregnant Shoshone wife, Sacagawea, to join him on the expedition.

Sacagawea had been kidnapped by Hidatsa Indians at age 12 and then sold to Charbonneau. Lewis and Clark hoped she could help them communicate with any Shoshone they'd encounter on their journey.

On February 11, 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to a son and named him Jean Baptiste. She became an invaluable and respected asset for Lewis and Clark.

The Continental Divide

On April 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark sent some of their crew and their keelboat loaded with zoological and botanical samplings, maps, reports and letters back to St. Louis while they and the rest of the Corps headed for the Pacific Ocean.

They crossed through Montana and made their way to the Continental Divide via Lemhi Pass where, with Sacagawea's help, they purchased horses from the Shoshone. While there, Sacagawea reunited with her brother Cameahwait, who hadn't seen her since she was kidnapped.

The group next headed out of Lemhi Pass and crossed the Bitterroot Mountain Range using the harrowing Lolo Trail and the help of many horses and a handful of Shoshone guides.

This leg of the journey proved to be the most difficult. Many of the party suffered from frostbite, hunger, dehydration, bad weather, freezing temperatures and exhaustion. Still, despite the merciless terrain and conditions, not a single soul was lost.

After 11 days on the Lolo Trail, the Corps stumbled upon a tribe of friendly Nez Perce Indians along Idaho's Clearwater River. The Indians took in the weary travelers, fed them and helped them regain their health.

As the Corps recovered, they built dugout canoes, then left their horses with the Nez Perce and braved the Clearwater River rapids to Snake River and then to the Columbia River. They reportedly ate dog meat along the way instead of wild game.

Fort Clatsop

A bedraggled and harried Corps finally reached the stormy Pacific Ocean in November of 1805. They'd completed their mission and had to find a place to live for the winter before heading home.

They decided to make camp near present-day Astoria, Oregon, and started building Fort Clatsop on December 10 and moved in by Christmas.

It was not an easy winter at Fort Clatsop. Everyone struggled to keep themselves and their supplies dry and fought an ongoing battle with tormenting fleas and other insects. Almost everyone was weak and sick with stomach problems (likely caused by bacterial infections), hunger or influenza-like symptoms.

Lewis and Clark Journey Home

On March 23, 1806, the Corps left Fort Clatsop for home. They retrieved their horses from the Nez Perce and waited until June for the snow to melt to cross the mountains into the Missouri River Basin.

After again traversing the rugged Bitterroot Mountain Range, Lewis and Clark split up at Lolo Pass.

Lewis' group took a shortcut north to the Great Falls of the Missouri River and explored Marias River-a tributary of the Missouri in present-day Montana-while Clark's group, including Sacagawea and her family, went south along the Yellowstone River. The two groups planned to rendezvous where the Yellowstone and Missouri met in North Dakota.

Pompey's Pillar

On July 25, 1806, Clark carved his name and the date on a large rock formation near the Yellowstone River he named Pompey's Pillar, after Sacagawea's son whose nickname was "Pompey." The site is now a national monument managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Two days later, at Marias River near present-day Cut Bank, Montana, Lewis and his group encountered eight Blackfeet warriors and were forced to kill two of them when they tried to steal weapons and horses. The location of the clash became known as Two Medicine Fight Site.

It was the only violent episode of the expedition, although soon after the Blackfeet fight, Lewis was accidentally shot in his buttocks during a hunting trip; the injury was painful and inconvenient but not fatal.

On August 12, 1806, Lewis and Clark and their crews reunited and dropped off Sacagawea and her family at the Mandan villages. They then headed down the Missouri River-with the currents moving in their favor this time-and arrived in St. Louis on September 23, where they were received with a hero's welcome.

Legacy of the Expedition

Lewis and Clark returned to Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1806 and shared their experiences with President Jefferson.

While they had failed to identify a coveted Northwest Passage water route across the continent, they had completed their mission of surveying the Louisiana Territory from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and did so against tremendous odds with just one death and little violence.

The Corps had traveled more than 8,000 miles, produced invaluable maps and geographical information, identified at least 120 animal specimens and 200 botanical samples and initiated peaceful relations with dozens of Native American tribes.

Both Lewis and Clark received double pay and 1,600 acres of land for their efforts. Lewis was made Governor of the Louisiana Territory and Clark was appointed Brigadier General of Militia for Louisiana Territory and a federal Indian Agent.

Clark remained well-respected and lived a successful life. Lewis, however, was not an effective governor and drank too much. He never married or had children and died in 1809 of two gunshot wounds, possibly self-inflicted. A few years later, Sacagawea died, and Clark became her children's guardian.

Despite Lewis' tragic end, his expedition with Clark remains one of America's most famous. The duo and their crew-with the aid of Sacagawea and other Native Americans-helped strengthen America's claim to the West and inspired countless other explorers and western pioneers.

Sources

Building Fort Clatsop. Discovering Lewis & Clark.
Corps of Discovery. National Park Service: Gateway Arch.
Expedition Timeline. Thomas Jefferson Foundation: The Jefferson Monticello.
Flagship: Keelboat, Barge or Boat? Discovering Lewis & Clark.
Fort Clatsop Illnesses. Discovering Lewis & Clark.
Fort Mandan Winter. Discovering Lewis & Clark.
Indian Peace Medals. Thomas Jefferson Foundation: The Jefferson Monticello.
Lemhi Valley to Fort Clatsop. Discovering Lewis & Clark.
Lolo Trail. National Park Service: Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Jefferson Foundation: The Jefferson Monticello.
The Journey. National Park Service: Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The Native Americans. PBS.
To Equip an Expedition. PBS.
Two Medicine Fight Site. National Park Service: Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Washington City to Fort Mandan. Discovering Lewis & Clark.

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Lewis and Clark: Expedition, Purpose & Facts - HISTORY

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804 when Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase.

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Convince your family to watch this with you.

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Lewis & Clark: Explorers of the New Frontier | Full Documentary | Biography

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Choose 2 dates from the journals to read. Summarize what they were doing and describe it in your own words for your peers.

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Sacagawea (c. 1788-1812) may not be widely known outside of the United States, but her exploits are well worthy of the history books. She served as a guide and interpreter on the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) to map the newly purchased territory of Louisiana and beyond.

Her achievements are made all the more remarkable by the fact that she was just a teenager when she embarked on the expedition that would go on to define much of 19th-century America's understanding of its western frontiers. And on top of that, she was a new mother who completed the journey with her baby in tow.

Here are 10 facts about Sacagawea, the Native American teenager who became a famous explorer.

1. She was born a member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe

Precise details about Sacagawea's early life are hard to come by, but she was born around 1788 in modern-day Idaho. She was a member of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe (which literally translates as Eaters of Salmon), who lived along the banks of the Lemhi River Valley and upper Salmon River.

2. She was forcibly married off aged 13

Aged 12, Sacagawea was captured by the Hidatsa people after a raid on her community. She was sold by the Hidatsa into marriage a year later: her new husband was a French-Canadian trapper between 20 and 30 years her senior called Toussaint Charbonneau. He had previously traded with the Hidatsa and was known to them.

Sacagawea was probably Charbonneau's second wife: he had previously married a Hidatsa woman known as Otter Woman.

3. She joined the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804

After the Louisiana Purchase was completed in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned a new unit of the United States Army, the Corps of Discovery, to study the newly acquired land for both commercial and scientific purposes. At this point, the whole of the United States was barely mapped, and vast swathes of land in the west were still under the control of local Native American groups.

Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark led the expedition, which ended up spending the winter of 1804-1805 in a Hidatsa village. Whilst there, they looked for someone who could help guide or interpret as they travelled further on up the Missouri River come springtime.

Charbonneau and Sacagawea joined the expedition team in November 1804: between his trapping skills and her ties to the land and ability to speak local languages, they proved a formidable team and a vital addition to the expedition's ranks.

4. She took her infant son on the expedition

Sacagawea gave birth to her first child, a son named Jean Baptiste, in February 1805. He accompanied his parents on the Lewis and Clark expedition when they embarked in April 1805.

5. She had a river named in her honour

One of the earliest tests of the expedition was travelling up the Missouri River in pirogues (small canoes or boats). Going against the current was tiring work and proved challenging. Sacagawea impressed the expedition with her quick thinking after she successfully rescued items from a capsized boat.

The river in question was named the Sacagawea River in her honour by the explorers: it is a tributary river of the Musselshell River, located in modern-day Montana.

6. Her ties to the natural world and local communities proved invaluable

As a native Shoshone speaker, Sacagawea helped smooth over negotiations and trades, and occasionally convinced Shoshone people to serve as guides. Many also believe the presence of a Native American woman with an infant was a sign to many that the expedition came in peace and was not a threat.

Sacagawea's knowledge of the natural world also proved useful in times of hardship and famine: she could identify and gather edible plants, such as camas roots.

7. She was treated as an equal within the expedition

Sacagawea was well respected by the men on the expedition. She was permitted to vote on where the winter camp should be set up, to help barter and complete trade deals, and her advice and knowledge were respected and listened to.

8. She ended up settling in St. Louis, Missouri

After returning from the expedition, Sacagawea and her young family spent another 3 years with the Hidatsa, before accepting an offer from Clark to settle in the town of St. Louis, Missouri. Sacagawea gave birth to a daughter in this time, Lizette, but it's thought she died in infancy.

The family remained close to Clark, and he took responsibility for Jean Baptiste's education in St. Louis.

9. She is thought to have died in 1812

According to most documentary evidence, Sacagawea died of an unknown sickness in 1812, aged around 25. Sacagawea's children came under the guardianship of William Clark the following year, suggesting at least one of their parents was dead due to the legal processes of the time.

Some Native American oral histories suggest that, in fact, it was around this time Sacagawea left her husband and returned to the Great Plains, marrying again and living to a ripe old age.

10. She has become an important symbolic figure in the United States

Sacagawea has become an important figure in the history of the United States: she was particularly looked up to as a figurehead by feminist and female suffrage groups in the early 20th century as an example of female independence and the worth that women could provide.

The National American Woman Suffrage Association adopted her as their symbol around this time and shared her story far and wide across America.

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Sacagawea (c. 1788-1812) may not be widely known outside of the United States, but her exploits are well worthy of the history books. She served as a guide and interpreter on the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) to map the newly purchased territory of Louisiana and beyond.

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On a gloomy December afternoon in 1803, a boat crept along the banks of the Mississippi River and landed at the mouth of the Wood River in what is now the state of Illinois. A group of men climbed out and began to set up camp under a dark canopy of oak trees. Suddenly a violent storm moved in, pelting the area with snow and hail.

The men didn't turn back though. Instead, they hunkered down and spent the next five months here preparing for the trip they were about to embark on,in which poor weather would be one of the many dangers they'd face.

Among these men were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, co-leaders of an expedition tasked with exploring land that the United States had recently acquired. Their trip would turn into an epic 8,000-mile-long trek-and the first big step in the United States' westward expansion.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL

When Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States in 1801, the country basically stopped at the Mississippi River. France controlled much of the land to the west of this waterway.

President Jefferson wanted to acquire the Port of New Orleans, in what is now the state of Louisiana, from the French. Its prime location made it a key spot for trade. In 1803, Jefferson made what's known as one of the greatest real estate deals in history: the Louisiana Purchase.

After negotiations, France agreed to sell the entire city of New Orleans, which included the port, to the United States for $10 million; they threw in the rest of the territory they owned for an additional $5 million. The agreement-which gave the United States approximately 828,000 square miles of land-almost doubled the size of the nearly 30-year-old nation.

The United States only paid about three cents an acre for the land, which stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Spain still owned much of the southwestern part of what's now the United States, stretching from the area that would become Texas to present-day California.

Purchasing this enormous amount of land was one thing, but exploring it was another. Jefferson wanted to plan an expedition to investigate the territory. He called the proposed mission the Voyage of Discovery and began assembling a team of explorers called the Corps (KOR) of Discovery. The president chose Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark to lead the expedition. Lewis, President Jefferson's personal secretary, was an officer in the United States Army and spoke several Native American languages. Lewis recommended Clark-a retired officer who had served alongside him in the Army-as the expedition's co-leader.

WAY OUT WEST

In the spring of 1804, Lewis, Clark, and dozens of other men left St. Louis, Missouri, by boat. They traveled westward through what is now Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

In November they reached Knife River Village in present-day North Dakota. There they met a young Shoshone Native American woman called Sacagawea (Sa-kuh-juh-WEE-uh) and her fur-trader husband, Toussaint Charbonneau (Too-SAHNT SHAR-bon-oh). The couple joined the expedition as interpreters, translating the language of the local tribes for Lewis and Clark's men.

Sacagawea didn't just serve as an interpreter during the trip, however. She helped Lewis and Clark's men obtain essential supplies and horses, identified edible plants and herbs, and prevented hostile relations with other tribes simply by being with the group-all while carrying her newborn baby on her back.

After meeting Sacagawea and her husband, the Corps traveled west from North Dakota, 15 to 20 miles a day on foot and by boat, toward the mountains. Day after day, the exhausted, freezing team braved rough rivers and perilous peaks, getting by on very little food. They wouldn't see the Pacific Ocean until November 1805-over a year after they first left Missouri.

COMING HOME

After a long winter waiting out the bad weather, the Corps was able to start making their way back east in March 1806. After returning Sacagawea and her husband to North Dakota, the remainder of the Corps arrived back in Missouri in late September, more than two years after they started their expedition.

Lewis and Clark's team mapped uncharted land, rivers, and mountains. They brought back journals filled with details about Native American tribes and scientific notes about plants and animals they'd never seen before. They also brought back stories-tales that made other Americans dream about heading west.

Many Americans did more than dream. The great westward expansion was about to begin.

Text adapted from The Journals of Lewis and Clark; The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today; and Sacagawea

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How Lewis and Clark-along with a Native American guide, Sacagawea-explored the newly expanded United States