Lewis and Clark: Exploring Uncharted Territory
Fort Mandan
Our vessels consisted of six small canoes, and two large perogues. This little fleet altho' not quite so
rispectable as those of Columbus or Capt. Cook, were still viewed by us with as much pleasure as those deservedly
famed adventurers ever beheld theirs; and I dare say with quite as much anxiety for their safety and
preservation. We were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of
civilized man had never trodden; the good or evil it had in store for us was for experiment yet to determine, and
these little vessells contained every article by which we were to expect to subsist or defend ourselves.
(Journal entry of Meriwether Lewis, April 7,
1805, from the EDSITEment resource, Lewis and
Clark, produced by PBS.)
On July 4, 1803, the territory of the United States doubled in size. At the conclusion of negotiations
between Napoleon Bonaparte and President Thomas Jefferson, the nation acquired the Louisiana Purchase for $15
million--approximately 3 cents per acre of land. Covering land west of the Mississippi River from New Orleans
through Montana, the new territory was largely unknown to Americans in the East. To explore this newly acquired
territory, Jefferson persuaded Congress to allocate $2,500 to his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, his friend,
William Clark, and 31 other companions, creating the "Corps of Discovery."
After gathering supplies in Pittsburgh and waiting for the official land transfer of Louisiana from France to
the United States, the expedition finally set sail from Camp Dubois, just north of St. Louis, on May 14, 1804.
Traveling up the Missouri River, the Corps of Discovery began their explorations, which would continue over the
next two years. Scientific discovery was among their aims. The Corps recorded over 400 new plants and animals
previously unknown in the East. Among these were many of the species for which the West is now known, such as
antelope, prairie dogs, and grizzly bears.
With the first winter approaching during their travels, the team settled in Fort Mandan, just across the river
from the villages of the Mandans and Hidsatas. Aware of the additional Native American tribes they would
encounter in their coming journeys, Lewis and Clark hired French Canadian fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau and
his Shoshone wife, Sacagawea (who had been captured by the Hidsatas and sold to Charbonneau) as translators.
Departing from Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark began their more extensive travels and their
encounters with Native Americans. Encountering nearly 50 tribes, such as the Nez Perce, the Blackfeet, the
Yankton Sioux, and the Teton Sioux, Lewis and Clark engaged in extensive trade, and claimed the tribal land for
the United States of America.
EDSITEment offers several lesson plans you can use to teach your students about the Lewis and Clark expedition
and the exploration of the West. In the EDSITEment lesson plan, On this Day with Lewis and Clark, 3rd-5th grade
students consider the daily life of those on the expedition and map the journey West. In On the Oregon Trail, 6th-8th grade students are
asked to trace the paths of pioneers exploring the West 150 years ago Finally, middle school and high school
students can research the impact of geographical work and Lewis and Clark's mapping of the American West in Mapping the Past. The richness of the cultures
already present in the Louisiana Territory before Lewis and Clark's arrival is the subject of Not 'Indians,' Many Tribes: Native American
Diversity, an EDSITEment lesson plan designed for grades 3-5. A lesson plan on encounters between Native
Americans and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Lewis and Clark: Same Place,
Different Directions, is one of eight lessons on Lewis and Clark available from the EDSITEment resource Xpeditions.
Read more about the historical impact of this extraordinary journey in an online article from the NEH's
Humanities magazine: Caroline Kim's essay, "West by Northwest,". See also "On the Trail With Lewis and Clark", an
interview with historian Gary Moulton by NEH Chairman, Bruce Cole.
For additional information on the history of Lewis and Clark's expedition, visit PBS-produced Lewis and Clark, a comprehensive site that tracks their
extraordinary journey and provides access to a searchable database of journal entries as well as maps from the Expedition. Another important
research is the digitized version of the 1814 publication ordered by the U.S. Government, History of the
expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark…, available from the EDSITEment resource, American Memory. Other EDSITEment reviewed sites that will help your students
understand the expedition and its importance are Exploring the West from Monticello,
New Perspectives on the West, and Oregon Trail.
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