Meriwether Lewis Achievements

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Meriwether Lewis, born August 18, 1774, was an American explorer. He and William Clark, born August 1, 1770, accompanied each other on a dangerous expedition. President Thomas Jefferson appointed Lewis and Clark to explore the territory that was acquired in the “Louisiana Purchase”. He commissioned this the Corps of Discovery Expedition that lasted from 1804 to 1806. As a result of this expedition, Lewis was rewarded with land and awarded the position of governor for a Louisiana territory. Lewis and Clark’s long expedition lasted three years and they traveled about 8,000 miles. Lewis discovered water passages and he also collected samples of many things, which resulted in the discovery of new plants and animals. Lewis soon became a well-known …show more content…
They purchased this land for 15 million dollars. Thomas Jefferson appointed Lewis as his personal secretary and he was accompanied by Clark to explore the lands that were purchased for the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson wanted Lewis and Clark to discover a water route to link the Columbia and Missouri rivers. They traveled all across the United States to St Louis and in the end they discovered the linkage of the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. This helped a lot with giving them land access to be able to market and ship goods. This discovery opened up a lot of opportunities for the United States to profit from trade. The discoveries on this expedition were hard fought for and the exploration took a long time.
The exhaustive expedition for discoveries started May, 1804. Throughout this journey they were acquainted with many harsh weather conditions. These weather conditions introduced Lewis to many different plants and animals and the conditions they survived in. As a result, Lewis collected samples of plants and animals. He put the samples in a journal and wrote about them. Not only did Lewis and Clark discover water routes but they learned a lot about what the lands had to offer, such as plants and animals for …show more content…
At almost every place they stopped at, they had a great welcome. Many towns and tribes had celebrations for the group when they went through the town. The word of the expedition probably traveled from town to town and tribe to tribe so they all knew the group was coming and knew they were not a threat. Soon after many stops, the group had finally made it to their nation's capital. Lewis was showered with awards and praises for his hard work and treacherous journey. Lewis received an award of 1,600 acres of land and also received a cash award. Lewis was also rewarded with being able to be the governor of Louisiana. After the expedition was all over with, he wanted to publish the journals he wrote of the journey and the new plant and animal samples but it was not as easy as he thought it would

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