Question

Please discuss the Lewis & Clark Expedition (aka the Corps of Discovery) in as much detail as possible. In your opinion, what was the most important accomplishment of the Expedition? Was this in keeping with Thomas Jefferson's three primary goals in creating the Corps of Discovery or was it something unforeseen and/or unexpected?  Your answer must include a comprehensive discussion of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, address all three components of the question, and be a minimum of two full paragraphs in length in order to be considered for full credit.

Answer 1

In 1803, when was President of the United States, the U.S. obtained the Louisiana Territory from France. This was a gigantic tract of more than 800,000 square miles, taking in almost the whole waist of North America from present-day Texas and Louisiana up to Montana and North Dakota. This nearly multiplied the size of the new nation.

A great part of the new domain was unexplored. Jefferson chose to send a campaign up the Missouri River to its source in the western mountains and past to the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson trusted that the endeavor would have the option to locate the slippery Northwest Passage, a water course the nation over, which would be an extraordinary shelter to business.

So in that equivalent year, Jefferson authorized the Corps of Discovery under the direction of his confided in private secretary, Meriwether Lewis. Other than looking for the Northwest Passage, Lewis was to delineate new an area, survey its common assets, and reach its occupants, become friends with them if conceivable. Lewis selected his companion William Clark to share similarly in the order of the campaign, just as a power of more than 40 men. The individuals from the Corps of Discovery were troopers, yet their motivation was quiet - investigation, tact, and science. Lewis was authorized as a Captain of the Army of the United States, Clark as a Lieutenant (in spite of the fact that this substandard position was stayed quiet from the men, and Clark was constantly called "Chief").

Lewis acquired an enormous load of provisions, including weapons and ammo, nourishment, garments, navigational instruments, and huge quantities of products to be utilized as blessings and trade for Indians. To convey the Corps and its freight on the primary leg of their adventure, Lewis had a keelboat manufactured, a 55-foot shallow-draft vessel fit for conveying around 12 tons of load. The pontoon had a sail, however was for the most part moved with paddles and shafts. The voyage on the Missouri River would be more than 2,000 miles - upstream the whole distance.

The undertaking began from St. Louis, where the Missouri exhausts into the Mississippi, on May 14, 1804. En route, Clark administered the men and painstakingly mapped the course. Lewis mentioned logical objective facts and gathered examples of creatures and plants. The excursion was challenging - the men lived outside, chased for nourishment, and paddled the keelboat (alongside two littler pontoons) up the stream, frequently towing the vessel from the shore when the ebb and flow got excessively substantial or the waterway got hard to explore. They battled off tremendous billows of mosquitoes that swarmed around them. The gathering made just 12 or 14 miles at best.

En route, the gathering reached Indian occupants of the land. During the principal period of movement, they reached the Missouris, the Omahas, the Yankton Sioux, the Teton Sioux (Lakota), and the Arikaras. The skippers would offer blessings, meet with the boss, and make addresses urging the Indian countries to make harmony with each other and with their new "extraordinary dad," President Jefferson. All were well disposed aside from the Lakota, with whom the endeavor had a showdown that almost became violent.By October, the Corps of Discovery had arrived at what is presently North Dakota, however they were clearly not even close to the Missouri's headwaters and winter was nearby. Since little was thought about the course past the Mandan towns, Lewis and Clark chose to assemble a fortification and winter with the Mandans and their Hidatsaneighbors. These clans, with a populace of around 4,500 individuals, involved five perpetual towns along the Missouri River and were known for their agreeableness and liberality.

Throughout the winter, Lewis and Clark contracted Toussaint Charbonneau, a French hide broker, and his significant other, a Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, understanding that this lady could help them by going about as translator with her kin, who lived close to the Missouri's headwaters. In the spring, the commanders sent the keelboat down the stream with a couple of men and numerous things for Jefferson, including a break report of the campaign, tests of soil, minerals, and plants, Indian things, and even some live feathered creatures and a prairie hound, which had never been known about in the East. The vast majority of the campaign proceeded up the waterway in kayaks, bringing Sacagawea, her significant other, and their infant, Jean-Baptiste.

The gathering spent the following months advancing west up the waterway into domain obscure to white men. They experienced an extraordinary bounty of natural life, including wild ox, wolves, bighorn sheep, and brutal mountain bears. They advanced into present-day Montana, and found the stream getting progressively closed, with wild rapids and cascades.

At the point when they at last arrived at the territory of the Missouri's headwaters, they searched out the Shoshones. As it turned out, Sacagawea's sibling was head of the town they previously reached. With her assistance, the gathering got the ponies they would need to advance over the mountains beyond.