1 / 3 How did Meriwether Lewis Die?
Meriwether Lewis was a confidant of Thomas Jefferson, who was the 3rd President of the United States. When Jefferson bought Louisiana from Bonaparte, the federal government thought that the land purchased was a “worthless desert.” To prove them wrong, Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark’s Mission of Discovery. The expedition went on for 2 years with 3 goals in mind. When Lewis and Clark came back from the expedition, Jefferson put Lewis as the governor of upper Louisiana. Lewis also informed Jefferson of the expedition, and attempted to publish his book. Coming back into Louisiana as the governor, he dealt with financial issues. In D.C., it was rumored that he was embezzling money from Louisiana.
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That exhibit is called Neeley's Lie. James Neeley was an Indian agent who was a secretary to Lewis. When Lewis, Neeley, Pernier, and others were on their way to D.C. to clear up misunderstandings, a couple of horses ran off. According to Neeley's letter to former president Thomas Jefferson, it said "...We lost two of our horses. I remained behind to hunt them and the governor proceeded on, with a promise to wait for me at the first house that was inhabited by white people." But, according to exhibit #4, it states that Neeley was supposed to be in court in Tenessee, and not with Lewis. This implies that Neeley could be a part of the murder. This could also mean that Lewis' murder could be a set up. And if Neely lied about this very important thing, what else could he be lying about? In the theories packet, it said "According to Chandler, Lewis discovered certain secrets about General James Wilkinson, his predecessor as Governor of Upper Louisiana. If revealed, these 'blow the whistle,' The only way to kill the scandal was to kill Lewis before he could talk." This implies that Wilkinson and Jefferson didn’t want their reputation to be ruined, and therefore wanted Lewis dead. This lessens the possibility that Lewis committed
There was another suspicious person, Wilkinson. He was jealous and despised Lewis because Wilkinson’s governance of Louisiana was taken away from him while Lewis took over. He could’ve had a motive to murder Lewis because he had information on his treason and he could’ve believed that he could regain his job if Lewis was gone. He had a big motive and consequently killed him. He could’ve had a helping hand, which James Nelly.
During Jefferson’s presidential term, his idea was to expand territory west for settlement. In order for Jefferson to expand the land, he had to purchase New Orleans from France. At the time, Napoleon Bonaparte had Louisiana under his control and it didn’t took too much time for Napoleon to sell the land for $15 million. Napoleon not only sold New Orleans, but all of Louisiana because France was out of money and a war between France and Britain was coming up soon therefore they needed money to get supplies and food. Not only would the Louisiana Purchase add more land to the United States, but also in New Orleans the Mississippi River was the main transportation. After purchasing the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William
Meriwether Lewis’s death was caused by a murder by conspiracy. Lewis was carrying secret messages between him and President Jefferson. General Lewis and President Jefferson used code in their secret messages, no one in the government could understand or figure out how to decode the letters and this made everyone suspicious. Lewis was also holding a fortune which would encourage someone to murder Lewis even more to get this fortune and have hands on the secret letters between Lewis and the president.
The general was not happy, he had troubles with Lewis because Lewis refused to help him make parts of Louisiana independent. Lewis traveling to Washington to meet the president, he wanted to discuss the government not paying him money that he desperately needed because he was in debt. The government said they didn’t owe him anything, but Lewis was using his own money to help the place he was governing and caused him to go into debt. Lewis was murdered by conspiracy. Physical evidence that proves this was murder by
Meriwether Lewis is, a National hero in 1806, who received fame for Western expedition journey that was from February 1803 and ended Fall 1803. He then became the Governor or upper Louisiana. Lewis’ home is Virginia; he has both a drinking and depression problem. On, a journey to Washington D.C. October 11, 1809, Meriwether Lewis was found dead from two gunshot wounds. (One to the head, the other to the stomach.). Of the time of Meriwether Lewis’ death, there was no reason why anyone would want him murdered. It has been popularly believed that Meriwether Lewis, committed suicide due to the letters and testimonies; however, this is not true, Lewis was assassinated.
The expedition of Lewis and Clark began on May 21,1804. Meriwether Lewis was born on August 18, 1774 in Albemarle County, Virginia. Lewis met Clark in 1795 in the army. Lewis was asked to be Thomas Jefferson’s private secretary in 1801. Clark was born on August 1, 1770 near Caroline County, Virginia. Clark first entered the military at age 19 and served in the militia. Lewis asked Clark for help on the exploration and made him co-captain. With purchasing land from France called the Louisiana Purchase in April 1803, Jefferson wanted to find a water route that linked Columbia and the Missouri river, connected Pacific Ocean with the Missouri river system, and gave Western land access to port out of Mexico to the East. President also wanted to know what the land he recently bought was like. Lewis and Clark’s expedition immediately got easier with the help of Toussaint Charbonneau and his wife, Sacagawea on November 4, 1804. Sacagawea and her husband helped the exploration run more smoothly without the chance of misunderstanding with the Native American tribes. When Lewis and Clark returned to president Jefferson, they were treated as national heroes. They received gifts such as double pay. The men on the expedition
Meriwether Lewis the governor of the New Louisiana territory. And was the leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition to go and search westward of the United States of America. And on way to Washington D.C his last journey he suddenly died of gunshot wounds at Grinder’s Stand. People for the last 200 years said it was a suicide. But what if I told you I have another theory. That it was murder by conspiracy. That Meriwether Lewis was murdered by conspiracy instead of suicide. And I’m here to tell you why.
This purchase was worth $15 million in 1803. The land stretched from places such as the Mississippi River, Rocky Mountains, and the Gulf of Mexico. This was one of the United States first steps in expanding the country and exploring the unknown. Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and and William Clark to complete this task. The expedition, known as the Corps of Discovery, helped America gain valuable information. Some of this information regarded the geography, American Indian tribes and discoveries of new animal and plant life. Jefferson chose to buy the Louisiana purchase because he thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer which would not allow the U.S. to buy New Orleans. By purchasing the town of New Orleans and surrounding territory, that created more secure trading routes for the
Have you ever wanted to investigate a murder scene. Well, I am talking about a murder or a suicide story. It is unsure which because of what evidence they were left with. The victom is Meriwether Lewis, Meriwether Lewis is a expeditoiner who was found dead while on the expedition to discover the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. For three years he travelled with his friend, William Clark, in a company of 31 men, one woman and a child. He was 32 years old when the expedition returned to the United States. Meriwether Lewis bacame a national hero. For the next three yars he would be the Governor of the Louisiana Territory. Persanally, I think it was murder and I will tell you why later. More about the tragic afternoon of October 10, 1809, he reined in his horse of the Natchez Trace to spend the night at an inn called Grinder's Stand. It was a pleasant fall day some 70 miles southwest of Nashville, Tennessee. The next morning, Meriwether Lewis was found dead. Now that you know some of the back ground, you can decide for youself if it was murder or suicide.
In my opinion Meriwether Lewis was murdered, I can tell through his journal entries that he was under a lot of stress and was having problems. But he was not the type of person that would commit suicide. He tells about how he had a lot of enemies in his life and that he feared that one day they would finally take care of him. I think that General Wilkinson was mad and hated Meriwether, he thought that it would be easy to pay someone to kill him and that is what he did. I think that if Jefferson had found out what had really happened then he would have made sure that the criminal would
In January 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent a confidential message to Congress asking for approval and funding of the exploration of the Westward part of the continent and was granted 2500-dollar budget for the expedition. Captain Meriwether Lewis was chosen as the expeditions’ leader because of his previous experience with the west and because he was an experienced
Either way, Lewis was the man for the job. He had skill as a gentleman, politician and military officer as well as skill with the sciences and all the knowledge of Indians as could be found. With his friend William Clark as his equal for the journey, they spent the fall and winter in preparation. Jefferson had given Lewis a “blank check” with the understanding that he should buy what he needed and the U.S. government would pay the bill, despite the fact that only $2500 had originally been approved by congress before the formal purchase of the Louisiana Territory. (Jefferson)
From 1801 to 1809 Thomas Jefferson was the U.S president. Meriweather Lewis was Thomas Jefferson’s secretary whom was commissioned in 1803 to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. William Clark was also a part of this expedition which resulted
At the time when Thomas Jefferson was president, the U. S. had bought new land in France. He had Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition to the New Lands who turned to Wiliam Clark to be the Co-commanding captain which turned into the Lewis and Clark expedition.
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.