On March 4, 1801, Jefferson took the presidential oath of office. In his speech, he asked Americans “to unite with one heart and one mind.” He was not only referring to bringing the political parties together, but also to expand the nation westward. He believed that expanding the nation westward would make the country safer from foreign invasion, as well as secure trading along the Mississippi river for American settlers and give the nation room to grow for years and years to come.

At the time, the land west was claimed by other nations, however, including Spain, France, and Great Britain. France and Spain controlled the trading rights along the Mississippi River and the important part of New Orleans. South of the Great Lakes, Britain still had forts and trading posts and were considering a move farther down the coast.

Our interest in the west was sparked by people’s beliefs that the west had plentiful natural resources such as animals for fur, gold, and silver. We also

Money was not the only worry occupying Jefferson’s thoughts, though. Napoleon Bonaparte and France had been fighting wars around the world for years, trying to build an empire. France also had control of Louisiana. Jefferson was worried that Napoleon would close New Orleans and the Mississippi River to American trade. Thus, Jefferson warned Napoleon that if France put troops in Louisiana, the United States would fight back and might even join with Britain, an old enemy, to fight against them. This made Napoleon nervous because he had been at war against Britain on and off for years. Jefferson really did want to keep peace, though, so he got permission from Congress to offer to buy New Orleans. He sent James Monroe to Paris to Bargain with France. He offered about $10 million for just New Orleans, but then Napoleon offered to sell the whole Louisiana territory for $15 million dollars. This was more than Congress had approved to spend, but Monroe knew he had to jump at the chance and agreed to the deal. The treaty giving us the territory was signed on April 30, 1803.

Skipping ahead to April 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark were about to “penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civilized man had never trodden”, according to Lewis. In other words, they were about to make their way across vast unchartered territory. Their main goal for this part of the journey was to get to Three Forks, the place where the Missouri splits into three smaller rivers, find the Shoshones, and buy horses. The Hidatsa, another Indian tribe, had told Lewis and Clark about a large tributary of the Missouri that could take them to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and then to the Three Forks. On April 25, 1805, day 347, Lewis set off with a few others to find the Yellowstone. A few hours later he found it so he took latitude and longitude measurements and examined the region. Then the whole party met where the two rivers joined. However, instead of taking the Hidatsa advice, they followed Jefferson’s orders and continued on the Missouri.

Fortunately for the Corps, the Shoshones were finally found. The day before Lewis crossed the Great Dived, he had seen a Shoshone on horseback. The Indian ran away frightened, but a few days later they came upon an old woman and two girls. Once they proved that they were white men and not enemy Indians, the women brought them to their leader, Cameahwait. Lewis promised him that the U.S. would trade guns with him if he helped the explorers. It wasn’t a promise that Lewis could keep, but it nevertheless worked.

Some topics in this essay:
Lewis Clark, Nez Perce, Orleans Napoleon, Mississippi River, Tell Indian, St Louis, Missouri Missouri, River March, Missouri June, Moses Reed, lewis clark, mississippi river, permanent party, nez perce, private john, st louis, clark expedition, camp wood, 1805 day, main goal, lewis met clark, mississippi river american, purpose extending external, forts trading posts, external commerce united,