The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804, when President Thomas Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis with exploring lands west of the Mississippi River that comprised the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis chose William Clark as his co-leader for the mission.
Who were the 2 Americans tasked with exploring the Louisiana Territory in 1804?
Among these men were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark , co-leaders of an expedition tasked with exploring land that the United States had recently acquired. Their trip would turn into an epic 8,000-mile-long trek—and the first big step in the United States’ westward expansion.
Who were the 2 men who led the expedition west to explore the Louisiana Territory?
Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06) was a U.S. military expedition, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark , to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. The expedition was a major chapter in the history of American exploration.
Who were the two men Jefferson sent to explore and map the Louisiana Territory?
Students will learn that the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore west of the Mississippi River in 1804 — though the land was already inhabited and politically complicated.
Who sent Lewis and Clark?
In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the now-legendary transcontinental expedition to explore the American West.
Who sold the Louisiana Purchase to the United States?
The Louisiana Purchase encompassed 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America that the United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million.
Did Lewis and Clark have slaves?
| York | Occupation Body servant (enslaved) Explorer | Employer Enslaved by William Clark | Known for Participating in the Lewis and Clark Expedition | Spouse(s) 1 |
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What were Jefferson’s three goals for Lewis and Clark’s trip?
Their mission was to explore the unknown territory, establish trade with the Natives and affirm the sovereignty of the United States in the region .
What happened to the Mandan villages?
In 1781, a smallpox epidemic devastated the Mandan villages forcing the survivors to move north and establish two villages about five miles south of the Hidatsa villages. They prospered once again until an 1837 smallpox epidemic reduced the Mandan to as few as 125 individuals.
What plants did Lewis and Clark discover?
- Osage orange. Scientific name: Maclura pomifera – Lewis first described this on March 3, 1804. ...
- Broad-leaved gum-plant. ...
- Lance-leaved psoralea. ...
- Large-flowered clammyweed. ...
- Missouri milk vetch. ...
- Few-flowered psoralea; scurfy pea. ...
- Aromatic aster. ...
- Silver-leaf psoralea; silvery scurfpea.
Did Sacagawea help explore the Louisiana Purchase?
Sacagawea (right), the Shoshone Indian woman, assisted the expedition while carrying her newborn (Jean Baptiste) on her back . For her efforts, she was immortalized on a golden coin, first minted in the U.S. in 2000.
Why did Thomas Jefferson hire Lewis and Clark?
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to explore and to map the newly acquired territory , to find a practical route across the western half of the continent, and to establish an American presence in this territory before European powers attempted to ...
Who helped Lewis and Clark Louisiana?
Sacagawea . While at Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clark met French-Canadian trapper Toussaint Charbonneau and hired him as an interpreter. They allowed his pregnant Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea, to join him on the expedition. Sacagawea had been kidnapped by Hidatsa Indians at age 12 and then sold to Charbonneau.
Who died on the Lewis and Clark expedition?
Sergeant Charles Floyd dies three months into the voyage of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, becoming the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die during the journey. Lewis and Clark left St.
Did Lewis and Clark find the Northwest Passage?
Lewis and Clark may not have discovered a direct Northwest Passage , but they did forge a path to the Pacific that would inspire thousands of others to settle in the northwestern United States in the century to follow.
Why did France sell Louisiana to the US?
The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. ... Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War.
