Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark, both leaders of their voyage to locate a waterway that connected the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, developed the Americans’ reputation and their ways of life. Fundamentally, the expedition defined the nation’s identity, shaped their migration and settlement throughout the land, and their economy. In other words, this major journey created the way Native Americans viewed us and our approaches to our nation.

Our identity, or the way we are described, is what the Natives thought of Americans.

Primarily, they had an extremely negative perspective on these Americans. These Native Americans that were encountered thought the travelers were horrific and greedy because the whites forcefully stole their land and took over where families, homes, and innocent lives were occupied. In simpler terms, the Natives had a strong desire for the whites to be brutally murdered and drawn back away from the land they believed was in their ownership. This created the idea of war and major battle. Conflict was later formed, as well as the attributes of America and its citizens (Tecumseh “The West…”).

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/lewis-landc.html

Even after being fed and assisted by the Indians, the white settlers are still careless of their impudence. Regarding the expedition of Meriwether and William, Jefferson writes to Congress that “The Indian tribes… have, for a considerable time, been growing more and more uneasy at the constant diminution of the territory they occupy” (Jefferson Rivers, Edens…”). As

In addition, the Americans elaborate on their idea of traveling and settling in the western territory. They take their Creator as the force to make decisions. Furthermore, despite the fact that the Indians already inhabit the land, the whites claim the factor of “manifest destiny,” which defines the belief of God-given will to expand and move throughout the country. This idea came from a source of religion, since it was simply a conjecture that the Father Above had set one’s fate and life to colonize and populate the west section of the nation’s land; it was written in the Americans’ future and meant to be (Harrison “To the…”). This preset fate caused the Americans to think they were supposed to expand their population to include western Americans, known as Pioneers, who were braver and rougher.

To create more insight on the movement of Lewis and Clark and their men, the wind strongly blows from the northwest are they travel west as written on the 19th of November. This begins to substantiate the difficulty and struggles that the group encountered in the journey as a whole, and it becomes more understandable what the voyage was like itself, which emphasizes and signifies how the humans on the boat migrated west, to where they desired to live. Deer, buffalo, and elk were eaten during the expedition towards the west. Also, the aspect of the group’s colonization is highlighted. On November the 20th, it is recorded that the whites move into their huts, known as Fort Mandan. This location is at a low ground level, and is established into a few areas near other civilized groups: the Mandans, Minnetarees, and Ahnahaways (Lawson “The Journal”). This provides as an explanation of where settlement took place and that the western colony was occupied by whites, as well as the way in which travel in the large odyssey took place. It helped other Americans see that it was possible for them to come to the west notwithstanding the taxing conditions.

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