Northwest Passage Summary

In 1800 Thomas Jefferson was elected president. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Jefferson had the vision of the United States growing from sea to sea. However, it was unknown what was out there. Jefferson planned an exploratory expedition and called upon Meriwether Lewis to lead it. Jefferson was very interested in what was in the west lands. Much was involved in the carrying out of this expedition; the preparations for this trip, what happened during their long journey west, and the return home. This expedition was very important in the development of the United States.

The expedition of Lewis and Clark was a landmarking event in American history, but its significance goes beyond just the land they discovered.The Lewis and Clark Expedition was put forward so the two would be able to see and map out western America in search of new trade routes and passages. Lewis and Clark would have doubtfully survived had it not been with the aid of the Indians they met on their travels. Upon their controversial meetings with several Indian groups, Lewis and Clark were not respectful to the Americans they met on their journey. The controversial messages behind the peace metals, the reference to the Indians as “children”, and the physical

In May of 1804, two men set out on an important journey that would take them across the country and discover new land, but none of it would have been possible without the aid of one woman. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was planned by Thomas Jefferson, in order to explore the unknown in the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, and also to find a water route across the continent. Along the way the group of men met a quiet native, named Sacagawea, whose impact would later have a large effect on the success of their important journey.

The book “The Captain's Dog” follows Lewis and Clark's expedition, which took place from 1804 to 1806, to find A waterway that travelled from the east coast to the west coast, were they end up in modern day Oregon. Most of the U.S. had not been claimed by Europe and was owned by other countries. The expedition was started by George Washington who was the president at the time, sent out Lewis and Clark after the Louisiana purchase, which was when the U.S. had bought A large amount of land from Spain. Lewis and Clark had started the expedition in missouri, following the mississippi river. Though they did not discover A passage way, they discovered many new species of animals. Captain Clark had also brought along his dog, Seaman, who had gotten

In 1804 I was asked by Thomas Jefferson to go to our newly purchase the Louisiana territory. I left in 1804 with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find a northwest passage and tell the Native Americans that we own the newly purchased Louisiana territory. Lewis, Clark, and I also found many new plants and animal life. After we discovered that there was not a northwest passage we started going back home. This expedition was very long it took us 2 years and 4 months.

The question arises of why Thomas Jefferson commenced the great expedition of Lewis and Clark. “ Jefferson wanted to form an expedition that were able to gather valuable information about Western Indians while living at peace with them” (Ronda 1). This was important because the people that were going to move into the Louisiana territory had to make sure they had peace with the Native American. If people take away the Native’s food source, or destroy the materials they make a living out of, is going to cause conflict between the two. “The expedition was fashioned to explore the vast wilderness of what is now North Western United States. It was sponsored by the United States government and was led by U.S. army officers

traveled,Clark spent most of his time on the ship journaling the course and making maps. Lewis wa s often on the shore, studying the rock formations, soil,animals, and plants along the way.

The Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark expeditions, the establishment of a national road, and the philosophy

Exploration has always been a central theme in the development of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, made the government more eager to expand west. The newly acquired lands were in need of exploration. A team needed to be established to survey and document the new territory. The Lewis and Clark expedition would answer the unknown questions of the west. The expedition would not have been successful without the leadership, determination, discipline of the Corps of Discovery, and the cooperation of the Native Americans. President Jefferson wanted the leader to have the same passion and intensity toward the discovery of the west as he possessed. Jefferson hand-

Within this group, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were among the leaders. The Corps of Discovery followed the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers where they were able to make it to the Pacific Ocean. In total, the journey lasted two and a half years and resulted in only one fatality. This expedition helped lead the Americans to leave claim on the Oregon Territory and the population of the Northwest Territory

Since the beginning of time people have searched far and wide of new opportunities in new lands that could bring them riches or fresh insight. Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took the risk of life, limb, and liberty to bring back valuable information of the Pacific Northwest of the United States territory. Their accomplishment of surviving the journey and returning with the collected data to the U.S. government has completely turned our history around but some historians argue that “it produced nothing useful”. Lewis and Clarks expedition is one of the most well-known adventures of Americas frontier and it has produced the American destiny. It began with a bid from Jefferson’s emissaries in Paris to buy the vital trading port of New Orleans.

The changes brought on by these new explorers were vast ranging from depletion of local population due to unfamiliar European diseases to new settlements to increased harvesting of resources. There were also treaties made with the native Indians for land or goods. Still seeking the Northwest Passage, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began an expedition to the Oregon coast in 1804. While still failing to find that passage, they do explore more of the west and PNW than anyone up to that time. Among journals of native plants, native people, and many maps that opened the way for settlers, Lewis and Clark opened the way for trade with their revelation that the

In commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition, Jefferson opened “a highway to the Pacific.” The Lewis and Clark expedition became a legend in its own right. It was the “enactment of a myth that embodied the future.”( page 17)Lewis and Clark blazed a trail not only over the land but right through the consciousness of all Americans. The dream of a highway across America, once implanted in American imaginations, could not be shaken. Jefferson’s myth of a highway to the Pacific conformed well with another already existing notion, that of the “passage to India.” Ever since Marco Polo, Europeans had been seeking a new route to the mysterious fortunes of Macao and Cathay. When Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific in 1804, the dream of a passage to India was resurrected. Thomas Hart Benton and Asa Whitney took it from there. Benton, a Jacksonian Democrat, believed that Jefferson’s purpose in commissioning Lewis and Clark was “to open overland commercial relations with Asia.” (page 23) Even though he was wrong in this belief, that did nothing to stop the momentum from continuing of the myth. William Gilpin, Benton’s intellectual heir, believed that it was the “untranslated destiny” of the American people to conquer the continent. Gilpin believed that this process would take place gradually as “each phase of American development emerged upon a higher level with its westward thrust.”(page 37) Like Whitney, Gilpin

I, Henry Hudson, have had a reputation for exploring new ways and directions. As an English explorer, I have felt the need to find the Northwest Passage and seek everything and every visual in it. It is the beginning of 1607, and I am about to start my first voyage after getting the job of attempting to perceive a smaller path to the riches of Asia from Europe via Arctic Ocean. I have obtained high hopes for my commitments, and I am certainly not going to give up.

Toward the end of the 15th century Western explorers began searching for a contiguous sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by way of what is now the Canadian Artic Archipelago.