"This accession of territory affirms forever the power of
the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or
later will humble her pride.” Napoleon Bonaparte
Exploration. Adventure. Danger.
Meriwether Lewis
was celebrating his second birthday during the summer of the American
Revolution. He grew up quickly along with the budding United States, serving in
the Virginia militia at the ripe age of twenty. It was in the militia that he
began serving his country; his initiation was aiding George Washington in squelching
the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. He moved on the following year and joined the US
army, during which he served under William Clark. By 1801 he was appointed a
personal secretary by Thomas Jefferson, a president who had high expectations
for him. Before the United States even contacted France about buying some of
the American territories Jefferson was cultivating Lewis to lead an expedition
to the Pacific Ocean.
"The true foundation
of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and
property and in their management." Thomas Jefferson
In 1803 President Thomas
Jefferson commenced negotiations with Napoleon Bonaparte about the American acquisition
of New Orleans, instead the entire French holding of Louisiana was offered, the
asking price was only fifteen million dollars. Jefferson eagerly agreed and
more than doubled the size of the fledgling United States—over 900,000 square
miles—at a paltry cost of four cents an acre.[1]
This was Jefferson’s contribution to democracy in America, to give the nation
more land and thus a greater ability for people to buy their own property. He
believed that true democracy, or Jeffersonian Democracy as it came to be called,
could only be supported by individuals who owned their own property. With the
addition of nearly one million miles of land, he believed the future of the
United States was secure. Jefferson envisioned that it would take well over a
century before the Louisiana Purchase would become fully populated with new
immigrants and citizens; but, in fact, it took less then eighty years for the
western frontier to disappear.
The Louisiana
Purchase gave the United States control of the entire Mississippi River, allowing
its citizens to transport their goods to the European markets. That was the
original reason that Thomas Jefferson wanted New Orleans, whoever controlled
that city controlled who came and went through the Mississippi River. Even so,
a quick water outlet to Asia remained elusive. Meriwether Lewis was instantly commissioned
by the President to explore the western half of America and find the mysterious “westward passage”
to the Pacific Ocean. With the United States connection to the European markets
no longer in jeopardy Jefferson was eager to find an easy route to the orient
and an opportunity to acquire more exported items such as tea, silk,
and spices. With the
commissioning of the Corps of Discovery, Jefferson kicked off US expansion through
western Native American lands—all the way to the Pacific coast. Historian James
Ronda expounded on this by saying; “Lewis and Clark were part of an
expansionist movement that steadily brought traders, bureaucrats,
ranchers, and farmers into Mandan, Shoshoni, Nez Perce, and Chinookan
homelands.”[2]
When Thomas
Jefferson asked Lewis to captain the expedition he also requested that Lewis
assign someone as a successor, to prevent “anarchy, dispersion, & the
consequent danger to your party.”[3]
Immediately Lewis sent a letter to his old army buddy William Clark. Clark was
a seasoned veteran of the Northwest Indian War, an experienced frontiersman,
and had an extensive familiarity with Native Americans. Lewis wrote a heartfelt
letter to Clark, asserting, “that no man lives with whome I would perfur to
undertake Such a Trip as yourself.”[4]
Clark readily agreed and became a co-captain with the expedition. He instantly
began aiding Lewis in securing supplies, “Indian presents,” and extra men for
their journey.
A year later nearly
fifty men composed the Corps of Discovery; in May of 1804 they began their
journey to find a Northwest Passage, as well as study and record plant and
animal life and establish diplomatic relations with everyone living in the
territory. In particular, Jefferson strongly desired to establish friendly
relationships with the Native Americans, stating, “In all your intercourse with
the natives, treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which
their own conduct will admit.” Jefferson held an expectation that the US would
engage in dissolvable “commercial intercourse with them.” The primary trade
material that Jefferson wanted was fur. He hoped to build a strong fur trading
network with the Native Americans and Lewis was expected to help foster the
network by acting peaceably and reassuring them that the US wished to be
“neighborly, friendly & useful to them.”
One of Thomas
Jefferson’s efforts to present the United States as friendly was his demand
that the expedition keep vaccines for smallpox. His hope was that they could be
used to help the Native Americans that Lewis and Clark met. “Carry with you
some matter of the kinepox…its efficacy as a preservative from the smallpox;
& instruct & encourage them in the use of it.”[5]
The expedition was already storing over twenty bundles of goods to trade with
the Native Americans, but the inclusion of medical aid against smallpox was
crucial. European diseases ravaged Native American populations across the
entire continent of America and the western plains were no exception; the
problem of diseases made the hope of friendship and commerce that much more
precarious. Lewis and Clark met several tribes that were grouped together
because smallpox ravaged their population. It was Jefferson’s hope that having
the vaccines would show positive intentions.
Thomas Jefferson
wanted the expedition to live at peace with Native Americans as well as take
extensive notes about them. In a letter of instruction for Lewis dated June 20,
1803, Jefferson dedicated a paragraph to giving Lewis all the information he
was expected to record about the Indian tribes he encountered. He tells Lewis
to “make yourself acquainted” with the names and sizes of the tribes as well as
to “acquire what knowledge you can of the state of morality, religion, &
information among them.”[6]
Jefferson’s hope was to create a list of reconnaissance information about the
tribes in the United States’ new territory for trading purposes and possibly
even military reasons.
Of all the tribes
that Lewis encountered, Thomas Jefferson only mentioned one by name—the fierce
Sioux. Jefferson warned Lewis that while he should not encounter any Sioux
settlements along the Missouri River, he almost certainly encounter several of
their hunting and war parties. There was higher urgency on creating a positive
relationship with the Sioux; they were the most powerful tribes on the western
plains. “On that nation we wish most particularly to make a friendly
impression, because of their immense power, and because we learned they are
very desirous of being on the most friendly terms with us.”[7]
While the belief that the Sioux tribes desired to be on “friendly terms” with
the US was more of a hope of Jefferson’s, his belief that a positive
relationship with the Sioux was necessary for successful commerce was true.
Through careful research, Jefferson realized that the Sioux were crucial in
growing a strong trading network with all of the Native Americans. He viewed
the Sioux nation as being “middlemen in the regions trade.”[8] In
previous years the Sioux had “blocked most attempts of trading parties to go up
the Missouri” and Jefferson did not want that to happen to the United States.[9]
The Sioux tribes,
in particular the enigmatic Lakota, were known to take control of the Missouri
River, demand a toll from traders who passed through, take whatever they wanted,
and then trade with the other tribes themselves. The Lakota were aggressive and
did not appreciate people who encroached on their territory. They were highly
combative and one of the largest and fiercest tribes in the western portion of
America; they would prove their valor time and time again as they fought against
the expanding US during the 19th century. They survived as a hunting
and warring culture and lived by the Bedouin proverb: “Raiding is our
agriculture.”[10]
Thomas Jefferson had little desire to rile up Sioux tribes and make commerce
along the Missouri River impossible. When the Corps of Discovery met the Lakota
Jefferson’s fears materialized into reality. Lewis and Clarks failed diplomacy with
them was only the first of many conflicts between the US and the Lakota people.
[1] Arthur King Peters, Seven Trails West. (New York: Abbeville Press, 1996), 11.
[2] James P. Ronda, Lewis
and Clark Among the Indians. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984),
255.
[3] Daniel B. Thorp, Lewis
& Clark: An American Journey. (New York: Barnes & Noble Books,
2003), 28.
[4] Ibid, 31.
[5] Donald Jackson, Letters
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783-1854 vol 1.
(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 64.
[6] Ibid, 62-63.
[7] Ibid, 166.
[8] Ronda, Lewis
and Clark Among the Indians, 30.
[9] Earnest Staples Osgood, The Field Notes of Captain William Clark 1803-1805. (London: Yale
University Press, 1964), 146.
[10] Elliot West, The
Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado. (Lawrence:
University Press of Kansas, 1998), 68.
