Differences Between Lewis And Clark

Superior Essays
Meriwether Lewis’s Death

When a person hears the names, “Lewis and Clark,” the majority of people think of the two brave explorers leading The Corps of Discovery. Starting in 1803 and ending in 1806, Lewis and Clark lead the Corps on a journey through the Louisiana territory. The purpose of this expedition was to observe the newly acquired land, interact (positively) with the natives, but most importantly to find a clear water route that would be used for trade. Even though a clear, navigable water route was not found, the expedition was indeed successful in the exploration of the new land. Soon after the journey both Lewis and Clark were rewarded with positions to high offices. Clark was appointed Brigadier General of the Militia and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, while Lewis was made the Governor of the Upper Louisiana territory. It’s safe to say that the Governor position did not suit Lewis very well. Lewis faced many hardship while in his position. Whether these be hardships within himself or complications with his job. Due to these
…show more content…
This was an Inn located in Tennessee while Lewis was making a trip to Washington D.C. This would be a trip he would unfortunately not return from, given he never made it to his destination anyways. Lewis was traveling to Washington for many different reasons. He needed to attend to the publication of his journals, needed to work out some issues with the newly appointed secretary of war at that time, and supposedly held some very important information on General James Wilkinson. The information that was held on General Wilkinson would destroy not only Wilkinson’s reputation but Thomas Jefferson’s reputation as well. Once again another reason for his assassination. Jefferson needed a way to keep Lewis from blowing the whistle and unmasking the facade of Thomas Jefferson and General Wilkinson. The only way to achieve this was killing Lewis before he could

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    When William C. C. Claiborne was appointed as the governor of the Territory of Orleans of Louisiana in 1804, he had quite the resume. He had previously served as a member of Tennessee’s House of Representatives, as a judge of Tennessee’s Supreme Court, and as a governor of the Mississippi Territory. Claiborne can, therefore, be referred to as a Founding Father of the states of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Claiborne had met and befriended the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, while he worked as a clerk for Congress. In fact, when Jefferson competed against Aaron Burr in the presidential election of 1800, Claiborne helped Jefferson win the election by securing Tennessee’s vote in favor of Jefferson.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to Neiman (1997) before he became President Thomas Jefferson’s personal secretary in 1801, he “joined the U.S. Army in 1794, serving six years in the Frontier Army and rising to the rank of captain in 1800, then serving as paymaster of the First Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army.” Lewis planned his journey west after Jefferson’s instructions. Congress approved the journey in 1803, they know it would achieve knowledge of continental geography and wildlife.…

    • 1561 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His planning helped him to describe everything and anything thoroughly. Jefferson was very pleased with his notes because he had the most and the explanations helped everyone to understand the territory. Also, Clark's positive attitude helped to keep everyone's worries under control and keep everyone focused. This attitude remained because he was a soldier. Being a soldier taught him how to not only respect others, but earn respect.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (2) In 1806, Lewis and Clarke each took a different route to see which way would be faster to go back to St. Louis. Lewis was accidently shot by one of the men in the expedition during a hunting trip. Lewis and Clark met up at the Missouri River, and went the rest of the way back together. After a long two years, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to Washington as heroes. The expedition took about 8,000 miles through mountains, streams, and on foot.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Lewis and Clark Lewis and Clark went to Louisiana to look for a new route to the west. on the expedition over 40 men went on the trip in May 14 1804 .they traded with different tribes they also started to pack in 1804. You know it would be without a doubt if they did not have help during the expedition they would have surely died. Lewis and Clark went to Louisiana to try to find a new path to the west Lewis and Clark had a lot of help through the expedition from other tribes like the maiden nation Lewis and Clark went out to Louisiana to try to find a new passage to the west…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Lewis and Clark expedition was requested to start on January 18, 1803. The president at the time, Thomas Jefferson, asked congress to give two thousand five hundred dollars for exploration of the trans-Mississippi west. This was approved on February twenty eighth. President Jefferson hand chose Lewis for the exploration. Lewis then hand chose Clark as his second in command.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    To say that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were explorers during the early 1800’s, would undermine the contributions they possess in American exploration history. President Thomas Jefferson requested that his aide, Meriwether Lewis (hunter, outdoorsman, herbologist and former Army officer) lead a team of explorers, and study the western component of the west, now known as the Pacific Northwest. William Clark (outdoorsman, Army officer, celestial observer and cartographer) was asked to be his co-captain. Together, they governed a historic nation-changing expedition from May 1804 – September 1806. Their mission was to explore and map President Jefferson’s 15 million dollar, newly acquired, Louisiana Purchase.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The reason why Lewis and Clark went on this expedition not only because President Jefferson asked them to but because this was uncharted territory. They mapped everything along the way from the start in St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. While they were exploring this new territory, they were establishing American presence in the west, that keep any other country from coming in and claiming it for that country. Lewis and Clark discovered and wrote about in their diaries around 120 animals and 180 plants. The relationship with the Indians were never strong, but with the expedition of Lewis and Clark they were able…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many changes occurred from colonists expanding America. One of the most affected groups were Native Americans. Lewis and Clark were sent to explore the American lands with good aspirations to make friends with the native tribes. In a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Clark Jefferson stated that the explorers should “..with the natives, treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner…”. Jefferson wanted the explorers to be respectful to the natives.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson initiated an exploration of the newly purchased land and the territory in the West. Jefferson selected Meriwether Lewis, his personal secretary at the time, to lead the Expedition; Lewis in turn sought the help of William Clark, who was an adept frontiersman. Jefferson’s objective was for the men and their team (Corps of Discovery), to find a water route linking the Columbia and Missouri rivers, which could potentially connect the Pacific Ocean with the Mississippi River system, creating access between the newly acquired western land and eastern U.S cities. Jefferson also wanted information about the flora, fauna, and peoples of the region. The Lewis and Clark Expedition launched…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Lewis and Clark were facing was not just the physical obstacles of the land and the Indians, but the obstacles of the American leaders. The story implemented a detailed account of the courage, determination and resourceful self sufficiency displayed by these men and their companies to complete the expedition. While still giving great attention to the science, geography and their everyday life on the journey. Then in the very end, including that the success of mapping and documentation of Indian tribes, and new animals and plants could not sustain Lewis. He had trouble writing up the official account of the expedition and could not master the challenges of administration required in his appointment as Governor of the Louisiana Territory.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The plight of the African American has been exceptionally brutal and generationally consequential in the United States. Africans Americans were brought over to this country by force as slaves and remained enslaved for centuries and after they achieved freedom in 1865 they continually struggled through the Reconstruction period and even beyond the Civil Right period with a system of written and unwritten laws in America that kept them oppressed and made it nearly impossible to control their destiny’s. Shortly after slavery ended, many black leaders arose that had differing strategies for how African American people could strategically achieve equality in the United States. Booker. T Washington, the most influential black leader of his time,…

    • 1458 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trail Of Tears Summary

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the book “Trail of Tears: The Rise and fall of the Cherokee Nation” a book where more than 18,000 Indians were forced to move to Oklahoma in a march known as The Trail of Tears, John Ehle explains with details all the events that led to this happening. In the book we learn a lot from the Cherokee nation which was one of the most important tribes at that time. There are also many characters discussed in this book, like the life of major Ridge who was one of the most well known and important leaders of the Cherokee tribe and played a major role during the negotiations of the white men and Cherokees trying to fix their issues and come together on laws, culture and land. It also talks about John Russ who was also a well known Cherokee leader like major Ridge, he fought against the federal government to allow the Cherokee nation to stay in Georgia instead of moving to Oklahoma and leave everything they had built as a tribe.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The New World had many encounters, but two remarkable interactions with natives and explorers are that of Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortes. Christopher Columbus was on orders from the King of Spain to travel a new route to find India and introduce them to a new religion. In 1492, Columbus reached what he thought was India; however, he was mistaken so now it is known as the West Indies because of this belief. At the beginning of the 16th century, Cortes set sail for Meso-America also for Spain and now the area he explored is now known as Mexico. Although the native groups that these famous explorers encountered are very diverse, there are similarities in their interactions with the explorers.…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Once upon a time there were two best friends named Willy and Clark. They were both in the photosynthesis play at school. There characters were H2O (Willy) and CO2 (Clark), they were used as Raw Materials. The only problem was, was that they couldn't find the right person to be the light energy.…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays