Lewis and Clark: The Imperialist of America, 1803 - 1806

Lewis and Clark: the Imperialist of America, 1803 -1806

The Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803 to 1806, was a very important adventure, which had significant bearings on the whole of the American nation; declaring American sovereignty in the West, advancing American trade, and promoting peace between Indian tribes, while attempting to establish a peaceful and profitable relationship with the Native Americans. Thus, Lewis and Clark are viewed as ÐŽ§brave adventurers who went where no one had gone before and explored and conquered the wilderness for the betterment of America.ЎЁ (Miller)

The Lewis and Clark expedition was an exceptional journey that had a significant impact on the American nation in terms of both geographical expansion and the cultural influence. The expedition was a profitable exploration intended to use the Mississippi River as a communication route and increasing the trade with the native Indians. President Thomas Jefferson organized a group to explore the previously uncharted territory and to discover a northwest route to the Pacific Ocean. In 1803 Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William ClarkÐŽ¦s Corps of Discovery to find a water route to the Pacific and explore the uncharted West. He wanted to know what lay ahead, what they found have contributed greatly to the American society of today; some 300 species unknown to science, nearly 50 different Indian tribes, and the Rockies.

ÐŽ§A hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark were viewed as symbols of industrial expansion, overseas imperial trade and so on. Today they are multicultural diplomats and ecologists,ЎЁ quotes Dr. Mark Spence. The historical process initiated by Lewis and Clark was by political incorporation. Promoting peace between the Native American tribes was a complex process for which Lewis and Clark were little prepared. The Lewis and Clark expedition came upon the American Natives long after complex and lengthy histories of intertribal warfare. The intricate trade network systems among the native tribes played an enormous role in the relative successes and failures of Lewis and Clark's inroads into Native American culture. Lewis and Clark knew little of the difficulties of trade among the tribes, including the demanding and difficult trade alliances between the Assiniboine and Mandan/Hidatsa, and the trade between the Arikara and Teton Sioux. At this point of their lengthy journey, Sacagawea was a valuable member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, as a teenager, she served the expedition as interpreter, diplomat, and peace symbol. Sacagawea was a Shoshone Indian but kidnapped by Hidatsa warriors when she was twelve years old, this unfortunate incident for Sacagawea led to an exciting adventure which includes no other than Lewis and Clark.

During the expedition, Sacagawea and her infant son, Little Pomp were seen as symbols of peace and protected the Expedition from Indian attacks. Indians may have thought the Corps of Discovery were a war party. However, war parties did not travel with women or children, from a distance, the presence of Sacagawea and Little Pomp signaled to the Indians the Expedition was a peaceful party. Sacagawea also had knowledge of many Native American languages, customs, and tribes. She helped the Expedition by translating and negotiating at important Indian councils, in establishing trade and setting up alliance with the various Indian tribes in the West; thus greatly were Lewis and Clark forever indebted to her for her service in establishing American peace relations with the Indians.

Historian Bernard DeVoto stated that "the dispatch of the Lewis and Clark expedition was an act of imperial policy." This imperialism was directed at the Indians and tribes that inhabited the Pacific Northwest and the Louisiana Territory in order to establish American trade and sovereignty. The Lewis and Clark expedition was primarily concerned with Indian affairs from the beginning of the journey. In January 1803, President Jefferson asked Lewis and Clark to claim the fur trade with the Missouri River tribes and tribes clear to the Pacific Ocean. Then, when launching the expedition in June 1803, President Jefferson instructed Lewis to find the elusive Northwest Passage across the continent to use the route, in cooperation with Indian tribes, to greatly expand the American fur trade. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to ÐŽ§find the shortest and most convenient route of communication between the U.S and the Pacific Ocean for economic means.ЎЁ (Gilman 9) Second, Jefferson wanted Lewis to establish commercial ties with the Indian nations in the Louisiana Territory. Third, Jefferson ordered Lewis and Clark to perform careful studies of Indians and to gather information concerning tribal life, religion, territory, diplomatic relations and more. Finally, in January 1804, after the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson added a new instruction and ordered Lewis and Clark to extend the United StatesÐŽ¦ sovereignty over the tribes in the newly purchased Louisiana Territory. Lewis and Clark were ultimately seen as American economic and diplomatic representatives spreading the power of the United States new role as the controlling government in the West after France had sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase.

Lewis and Clark represented a rising American empire, one built on aggressive territorial expansion and commercial gain. TheyÐŽ¦re patriotic; they discovered new land so the United State could grow into a great nation. Lewis and Clark, itÐŽ¦s claimed, opened the West and launched the American empire.

However, to some extent, some historians can argue against that claim. ÐŽ§If Lewis and Clark died on the trail, it wouldnÐŽ¦t have mattered a bit,ЎЁ says Notre Dame University historian Thomas Slaughter. Lewis and Clark were not the first explorers to see the land on their journey. Indians had been, of course, there years before the Corps of Discovery or anybody else had been. Trappers and traders had covered the land before them, and though Lewis and Clark may have been the first whites to cross the Rockies in the United States, explorer Alexander Mackenzie had passed through the Canadian Rockies a decade before them. They also didnÐŽ¦t produce anything useful from their relevant research on the plants and animals of the West during the 17th century, their journals were not discovered and published until the late 19th century and suddenly revived at the turn of the 20th century when at that time, the frontier had been closed, the Indians wiped out, and the American Empire thriving. What they discovered and recorded were not irrelevant to the frontier during their time. ÐŽ§They were exploring the far Missouri at a time when the frontier was the Ohio River. They