Lewis And Clark Failure

The main idea the author intends to convey was that the Lewis and Clark Expedition was successful because of many of Lewis’ qualities, and the expedition was extremely important for the American people and the American dream. Throughout the book, Ambrose emphasized Lewis and Clark’s good partnership and complete trust in each other, as well as the men’s trust in their captains. Ambrose describes the captain’s trust, “Lewis and Clark has not been together in seven years, but even before they met their partnership was flourishing, their trust in each other’s judgement complete. There were no perils in divided command for this pair” (114-115). Lewis’ desire and determination for the mission to succeed and his expertise in the areas that were needed …show more content…
The Lewis and Clark Expedition overcame difficulties along their path to bring back valuable knowledge in their journals and experiences of the unknown. When Lewis and Clark arrive back to civilization Ambrose explains, “..he had accomplished the number-one objective of the expedition, to find the most direct and convenient route across the continent … the journals of Lewis and Clark provided the introduction to and serve as the model for all subsequent writing on the American West”(404-405). The expedition started the beginning of welding a path that would help the United States become one of the most powerful countries on the planet. Their journey helped many future settlers cross over to the west, and made a huge impact across many …show more content…
Lewis has his own interests take over the expedition as Ambrose describes, “Lewis’ exploration of the Marias was over. All in all, it had been a big mistake from the start. Many things went wrong, and nothing had been accomplished”(394). Lewis made a decision to split the party into five to explore the Marias, and consequently faced danger and had an Indian fight which could have stopped the entire expedition from succeeding. Additionally, the mission’s ultimate goal was to find a water route towards the west which was a failure. Ambrose explains some of the disappointments, “His Indian diplomacy had so far been a failure... There was no all-water route, or anything close to it, and the Missouri River drainage did not extend beyond forty-nine degrees north latitude”(405). These alternate views could display the expedition as somewhat of a failure with hasty mistakes, countering the author’s central thesis, but overall the majority of the book was in favor of the expedition, its captains and its