Jefferson's Secret Message Regarding the Lewis & Clark
Expedition
On January 18, 1803, Thomas
Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress asking
for “the
appropriation of two thousand five hundred dollars, for
the purpose of extending the external commerce of the United
States.” This money was used to fund the Lewis & Clark
expedition. Jefferson made the request in a secret message
in order to hide his intentions from his political enemies
in the Federalist Party.
Library of
Congress Web Site | External Web
Sites | Selected
Bibliography
A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
The Senate
Executive Journal contains another copy of Jefferson's
secret message.
Search
this collection to find additional Congressional documents
on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. For example, after
the successful completion of the Lewis & Clark Expedition,
Thomas Jefferson signed into law “An
Act Making Compensation to Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and
their companions” on March 3, 1807.
The
First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
Contains the full-text of Volume
1 and Volume
2 of the History of the Expedition
Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark,
which were originally published in 1814.
Louisiana:
European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase
This collection focuses on the various documents—from
maps to newspapers to cultural artifacts—that help
to describe the region of North America that stretched
from as far east as Alabama into what is now the state
of Montana. The 119 items presented here come from the
various special and general collections of the Library
of Congress. Includes the essay Louisiana:
European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase.
Map
Collections: 1500-2004
In March 1803, War Department cartographer Nicholas
King compiled a
map of North America west of the Mississippi in order
to summarize all available topographic information about
the region. It is believed that Lewis and Clark carried
this map on their journey at least as far as the Mandan-Hidatsa
villages on the Missouri River, where Lewis annotated
in brown ink additional information obtained from fur
traders. Search this collection using the phrase "Lewis
and Clark" to view additional maps produced during
and after the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
The
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
On September 23, 1806, Meriwether
Lewis wrote a letter to Jefferson about the expedition's
return to St. Louis. In this letter, Lewis writes that
"in obedience to your orders we have penitrated the
Continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean, and sufficiently
explored the interior of the country..."
Search
this collection using the phrase "Meriwether Lewis"
to locate over fifty documents related to the Lewis and
Clark Expedition.
Jump
Back in Time: Senate Ratified the Louisiana Purchase
Treaty, October 20, 1803.
Meet
Amazing Americans: Meriwether Lewis & William
Clark
American
Treasures of the Library of Congress - Lewis and Clark
Expedition
Includes maps and documents from the Lewis & Clark
Expedition.
Library
of Congress Exhibition: Thomas Jefferson
This exhibition focuses on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson.
A section on the
West examines Jefferson’s role in the Louisiana
Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Rivers,
Edens, Empire - Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of
America
This exhibition contains maps, images and documents
related to the Lewis & Clark Expedition, including
another copy
of Jefferson's secret message to Congress.
Jefferson's Letter to Meriwether Lewis
Gerard Gawalt (American History Specialist, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress)
discusses the draft of a letter that
Thomas Jefferson sent to Meriwether Lewis to initiate
the Lewis
and Clark Expedition.
August
18, 1774
Explorer Meriwether Lewis
was born on August 18, 1774 near Charlottesville, Virginia.
October
20, 1803
The Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase treaty on
October 20, 1803.
Teaching
With Documents: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, National
Archives and Records Administration
Lewis & Clark:
The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, PBS
The
Lewis & Clark Journey of Discovery, National
Park Service
LewisandClark200.Gov,
This web site is a partnership among 32 federal agencies
and organizations aimed at providing a single, easy-to-use
web portal with information about various Lewis and Clark
historical places.
Monticello
- Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition,The
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Our
Documents, Jefferson's Secret Message to Congress Regarding
the Lewis & Clark Expedition, National Archives
and Records Administration
Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage:
Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of
the American West.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. [Catalog Record]
Cutright, Paul Russell. Lewis and
Clark: Pioneering Naturalists.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Duncan, Dayton. Lewis & Clark: An Illustrated History.
New York: Knopf, 1997. [Catalog Record]
Moulton, Gary E., ed. The Lewis and
Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery: The Abridgment
of the Definitive
Nebraska Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
2003. [Catalog
Record]
Ronda, James P. Finding the West:
Explorations with Lewis and Clark. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
2001. [Catalog Record]
Slaughter, Thomas P. Exploring Lewis
and Clark: Reflections on Men and Wilderness. New York: Knopf, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Bergen, Lara Rice. The Travels of
Lewis & Clark. Austin,
Tex.: Steadwell Books, 2000. [Catalog
Record]
Blumberg, Rhoda. The Incredible Journey
of Lewis and Clark.
New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1987. [Catalog Record]
Cavan, Seamus. Lewis and Clark and
the Route to the Pacific.
New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991. [Catalog
Record]
Edwards, Judith. The Great Expedition
of Lewis and Clark: By Private Reubin Field, Member of
the Corps of Discovery.
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003. [Catalog Record]
Erdrich, Liselotte. Sacagawea. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda
Books, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Faber, Harold. Lewis and Clark: From
Ocean to Ocean. New
York: Benchmark Books/Marshall Cavendish, 2001. [Catalog
Record]
Morley, Jacqueline. Across America:
The Story of Lewis & Clark.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1998. [Catalog
Record]
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