Monday, August 4, 2014

The American West: Jefferson's Allons-y!

"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.

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