National History Day Project Example for Lewis and Clark

National History Day Project: Lewis and Clark Essay By Wesley Beals 2195 Words The expedition of Lewis and Clark is regarded as the best example of America’s curiosity to explore. The expedition started in St. Louis, Missouri in the late spring of 1804 (Blaschke, "Lewis and Clark Expedition”). The Lewis and Clark expedition made more accurate maps of the north Pacific coast of North America and of the Louisiana territory ("Lewis and Clark Expedition."). The expedition catalogued the fauna, flora and natives of the American west ("Lewis and Clark Expedition."). The natives had complex interactions with the Corps of Discovery; some of the interactions were successful and some were unsuccessful. These interactions influenced the relationships between the tribes and America. The Expedition both helped and hurt the relationships with certain Native American tribes. President Thomas Jefferson envisioned an expedition of the Louisiana territory before it ever came to fruition (Blaschke, "Lewis and Clark Expedition”). He had this idea because of his love for adventure and his curiosity which he inherited from his father (Blaschke, "Lewis and Clark Expedition”). The expedition started to become reality when the Louisiana Purchase happened. After the purchase in May of 1803 the Expedition organized ("Lewis and Clark Expedition."). Jefferson appointed his secretary and close-friend Meriwether Lewis as captain (Cole, Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark). In June of 1803, Lewis asked fellow army officer William Clark to be co-commander (Cole, "Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark."). Clark accepted William’s offer in a heartbeat and in 1804 they left on their famous expedition. They crossed through the Louisiana territory for the next year and a half and in mid-November of 1805 they reached the Pacific coast (Cole, "Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark."). The Corps of Discovery stayed on the coast for the winter of 1805; in the spring they crossed the continental divide again to return home (Cole, "Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark."). In September of 1806, the Corps returned to St. Louis with new knowledge and samples of new flora and Native American goods (Blaschke, "Lewis and Clark Expedition”). President Jefferson was ecstatic by what they found, and as a reward he appointed Lewis to be governor of the Louisiana territory and Clark was appointed to be an Indian agent (Cole, “Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark”). One other important person to the expedition was Sacagawea. Sacagawea served as an interpreter and to a smaller extent a guide (“Sacajawea: Bird Woman”). When the Corps stayed in Fort Mandan in the winter of 1804, they hired her and her husband to serve as interpreters. Now at the time Sacagawea had a baby son (Dodd, "Sacajawea."). Sacagawea and her husband came as an interpreting pair. Sacagawea did not speak English, so when translating needed to be done a long translating chain had to happen (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark."). Sacagawea would first hear the message then she would speak to her husband in Hidatsa; her husband would then say it to another interpreter in French then it was finally translated into English (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark."). Besides being one link in the translating chain, she would also serve as a symbol of peace to the Native Americans showing that the Corps was friendly (“Sacajawea: Bird Woman”). During the expedition to the Pacific, Sacagawea was experiencing the new geography like the rest of the Corps (Dodd, "Sacajawea."). On the way back she guided Clark through Shoshone trails she remembered from when she was a kid (Dodd, "Sacajawea."). She was a very resourceful woman during the expedition. She stayed with her husband in the Mandan village when the Corp returned to St. Louis in 1806(“Sacajawea: Bird Woman”). Her death date is in question because some sources claimed she died of disease in 1812; others sources claimed she died in 1884 (Dodd, "Sacajawea."). Though some of the main goals of the expedition were to find a water passage to the Pacific coast and to chart the American west, finding natives and making better relations with them was another major goal (Jefferson, “Thomas Jefferson: Instructions for Meriwether Lewis (1803)"). During the journey westward and on the way back, the Corp encountered over 50 tribes of Native Americans (Neiman, “Lewis and Clark"). Some of the encounters were with numerous unknown tribes at the time; other times it was with known tribes. Some of the tribes had been exposed to white men before through other European countries while others had never seen white men before (Neiman, “Lewis and Clark"). This led to some interesting interactions. Lewis and Clark eventually found out how to interact with the Native Americans. The routine they did when they encountered a new tribe was to make relations better. To start they would march in uniform through the village of the tribe and they would show off their guns and other modern things of America (Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark"). They would then speak to the chief and the people about the goals of the journey, about how the people had a new “Great Father” in Washington D.C., and about how the Native Americans were now a part of the United States of America (Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark"). They then would give them some medals as a symbol of peace and as a symbol of them being a part of America (Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark"). They would sometimes also give other goods as presents. Some encounters had positive effects such trade routes were established, friendships blossomed, and in some really good cases the Corps of Discovery had help on their journey such as more supplies or information about the area. Most of the encounters were successful. Some of the encounters that stand out are the Oto, the Shoshone, and the Nez Perce. The Oto tribe was a tribe that lived on the Missouri river (Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark"). When the Corps arrived in the village, they held a ceremony where the Corps showed their military might and weapons (Neiman, “Lewis and Clark"). Clark gave a speech that he would give a lot through the journey (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). He said that the natives were now “children” of a new “Great father” that would give them better trade than the French and Spanish(Neiman, "Lewis and Clark").. All they had to do was make peace with the other Native American tribes and send a representative to see President Jefferson (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark").The Natives were well pleased with the counsel (Ordway, Lewis and Clark Journal; Gass, Lewis and Clark journal). The chief agreed to the terms and he did what he was told in the spring of the next year (Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark"). The Shoshone tribe was living in the mountains when Lewis and Clark met up with them. Women were first afraid and then thought that they were friendly after Lewis lowered his gun and gave them some trinkets (Lewis, Meriwether. The Journals of the Lewis). The Corps of Discovery were the first white men that the Shoshone had seen (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark").. The chief welcomed Corps as guests. The Corps stared negotiations for horses with a great coincidence occurring. Sacagawea was the kidnapped sister of the chief (Lewis, and Clark, “Horse trading (1805)"). The chief agreed to sell the horses the Corps needed on one condition; Lewis and Clark had to give them some guns and ammunition (Lewis, and Clark, “Horse trading (1805)"). They agreed and got the horses they needed for the rest of the journey. The Shoshone also agreed to the condition of making peace with other Native Americans (Lewis, and Clark, “Horse trading (1805)"). The Nez Perce lived in the plain to the west of the Rocky Mountains when Lewis and Clark came (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). Lewis and Clark were looking for the Nez Perce when a couple of Native American boys spotted them (Clark, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark). The boys were afraid and hide in the grass; Clark found them and gave them some small trinkets to show that he was kind (Clark, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark). The Nez Perce were not afraid of the white men and the tribe was willing to be helpful to the Corps (Clark, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark). The tribe was willing to lend some guidance about the route ahead. Though communication was difficult, both parties were satisfied by exchanging gifts. The Corps stayed with the Nez Perce for a couple of days and left the horses in the care of the Nez Perce. On the return journey home, Lewis and Clark talked about establishing trade outpost and intertribal peace; the natives were willing to cooperate as long as they got guns that they needed (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). The Nez Perce helped provide a place of refuge for the spring and Lewis and Clark helped them by taking care of the sick(Willard, National Geographic: Lewis & Clark). During the Expedition there were some encounters that were not successful. Though they were rare, they still happened. These unsuccessful encounters happened either because of a misunderstanding or the revealing of a detail that caused the tribe to become angry. These encounters had negative effects such as the Native American tribe being hostile with American traders. Two of the unsuccessful were the Tenton Sioux and the Blackfeet. The Tenton Sioux lived around the area of Pierre, South Dakota (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). From other European traders are known as an aggressive tribe that wanted to control trade in its area and demanded large gifts from people who wanted to pass through the territory (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). Before the Expedition started, President Jefferson told Lewis to make a powerful impact on the tribe so that America could trade with them and that they could have little trouble on the Expedition(Willard, National Geographic: Lewis & Clark). When the Corps reached the village, they did their routine when meeting the Indian to no avail (Willard, National Geographic: Lewis & Clark). The Tenton were unimpressed by the show and they wanted the boat that Lewis and Clark had (Lewis, Meriwether, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark; Clark, “The Journals of the Lewis and Clark”). This almost turned into an armed conflict but the chief intervened to pull back to a diplomatic discussion (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). For the next three days, the Tenton let the Corps stay with them. During that three day period there were many misunderstandings because no one in the Corps spoke Sioux (Whitehouse, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark). After another argument that almost led to a fight, the Corps left the Tenton village to go further on their journey(Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). The Blackfeet tribe lived in modern day Montana when they encountered the Corps of discovery (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). Captain Lewis and a party of the Corps ran into eight Blackfeet warriors on the way through Montana (Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark").. After overcoming initial fears of the new, armed strangers the eight Blackfeet decided to camp with the Americans (Lewis, The Journals of the Lewis). During that time Lewis had told the Blackfeet about America’s goals and how America wanted to create peace between tribes in the west (Lewis, The Journals of the Lewis) .He later added that two of the Blackfeet’s rivals, the Nez Perce and the Shoshone, had agreed to the peace and said that they were going to get guns in exchange (Lewis, The Journals of the Lewis). The eight warriors thought that the Americans arming two of their rivals and asking for peace was a threat to Blackfeet power over the region (Neiman, David. ("Lewis and Clark"). That night, the Blackfeet planned to steal the guns the Corps had (Neiman, David. ("Lewis and Clark"). The plan went bad because Lewis set up a night watch and chaos ensued (Lewis, The Journals of the Lewis). The Corps killed two the eight Blackfeet soldiers in the chaos (Lewis, The Journals of the Lewis). The remaining fled to the village where they lived and told the Blackfeet tribe of what America wanted to do and about what happened. (Lewis, The Journals of the Lewis) From that day forward the Blackfeet tribe regarded Americans with hostility and hatred (Neiman, "Lewis and Clark"). The accounts were only of the perspective of white men on the encounters. The encounters might be different if it were from the Native American’s perspective. In researching this project it was difficult to research the Native American perspective on the encounters mainly because most of Native American stories were told orally and were not written down. If I had both perspectives, there could differences in the stories about what happened. There could be some bias towards the side of the Corps. To truly verify I would need both perspectives. The Expedition of Lewis and Clark had many effects on America’s relationships with the Native Americans. Many encounters with tribes were good causing trade routes, friendships, and caused American influence to expand. The other small percent of encounters were unsuccessful and caused trouble between America and tribes and it caused America to be treated with hostility. The Lewis and Clark expedition led to many new things being discovered, encounters with new culture and ideas, and led to the exchange of both goods and ideas. Primary Sources Lewis and Clark Expedition: Journals (1804-1806)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. “ These are various journal entries, by some of the people in the corps of discovery about a journey down the coast of Oregon. This showed what the Corps was doing and kinda showed some the goals of the expedition "Thomas Jefferson: Instructions for Meriwether Lewis (1803)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. ‘ This was a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Lewis to explain what he expected to accomplish on the journey. This gave me more of what the goals of the journey were.” Lewis, Meriwether, and William Clark. History of The Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the Source of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep; and New York: Abm. H. Inskeep, 1814. "Clark, William: speech for Indian "children" (1806)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. “This document is Lewis talking to the Native Americans about their mission and about America. This made me wonder if Lewis and Clark talked to other tribes of native Americans like they did here” Lewis, Meriwether and Clark, William. History of The Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the Source of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep; and New York: Abm. H. Inskeep, 1814. "Lewis, Meriwether: horse trading (1805)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. “ This was an excerpt from Lewis’s journal talking about how the Native chief was happy to help the Corp. THis showed that lewis and clark tried and succeeded on improving relationships with the Natives” Lewis, Meriwether. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ed. Gary Moulton. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2002. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 2005. U of Nebraska Press / U of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries-Electronic Text Center. 5 Oct. 2005 .\ “ This is the journal of Lewis during the Expedition. This helped me get a first person perspective on the Expedition.” Clark, William. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ed. Gary Moulton. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2002. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 2005. U of Nebraska Press / U of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries-Electronic Text Center. 5 Oct. 2005 . “ This is the journal of Clark during the Expedition. This helped me get a first person perspective on the Expedition.” Ordway, John. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ed. Gary Moulton. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2002. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 2005. U of Nebraska Press / U of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries-Electronic Text Center. 5 Oct. 2005 . “ This is the journal of John during the Expedition. This helped me get a first person perspective on the Expedition.” Gass,Patrick. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ed. Gary Moulton. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2002. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 2005. U of Nebraska Press / U of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries-Electronic Text Center. 5 Oct. 2005 . “ This is the journal of Patrick during the Expedition. This helped me get a first person perspective on the Expedition.” Floyd, Charles. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ed. Gary Moulton. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2002. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 2005. U of Nebraska Press / U of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries-Electronic Text Center. 5 Oct. 2005 . “ This is the journal of Charles during the Expedition. This helped me get a first person perspective on the Expedition.” Whitehouse, Joseph . The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ed. Gary Moulton. Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press, 2002. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 2005. U of Nebraska Press / U of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries-Electronic Text Center. 5 Oct. 2005 . “ This is the journal of Joseph during the Expedition. This helped me get a first person perspective on the Expedition.” Clark, William. "William Clark to Thomas Jefferson, July 24, 1803." The Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016 “THis was a letter from William Clark to Jefferson about accepting Lewis’s proposal. This gave me Clark's attitude towards the Expedition” Lewis, Meriwether. "Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, April 7, 1805, with Invoice." The Library of Congress. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. “This is a letter from Lewis to Jefferson talking about the progress of the expedition . This gave me some more primary sources and I used this to get some information on how the Corps dealt with the Indians.” Secondary sources Dodd, Doug. "William Clark."American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. “this was biography about Clark and it talked about what he did before , during ,and after the expedition. This helped me get background about Clark "Sacajawea: Bird Woman." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. THis was biography about Sacajawea.; it talked about how she was a massive help to the Expedition efforts. This helped me get more background on her and what she did. Cole, Curtis. "Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015 It was more background about the time before the expedition and during . It helped me understand why the expedition was organized "Bureau of Indian Affairs."American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. This was about the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This showed that the government wanted to improve relations with the Indians and helped understand the effects of the expedition Blaschke, Anne. "Lewis and Clark Expedition." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.“This was a overview of the expedition and a little bit of after of the expedition. THis helped me understand what happened and why it did "Lewis and Clark Expedition: American Indian Wars." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.0 “This one was an overview of the expedition. It helped give me background about the topic” Willard, Paula, Lara Bogle, and Robin Currie. "National Geographic: Lewis & Clark." National Geographic: Lewis & Clark . National Geographic, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. This source helped give me information about each different leg of the journey. This was a more in depth look at the Expedition. Neiman, David. "Lewis and Clark." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. This was invaluable because it provided information about the crew the encounter with the Indian and some interviews by historians. This helped me gather lots of information Dodd, Doug. "Sacajawea." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. This was a source about Sacajawea and her role in the Corps; it also provided some realism to the stories. This helped me get more information on Sacajawea.