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The Westward Expansion
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was one of the most exciting times in the history of the United
States. In 1804-06, Louis and Clark carried the destiny of our young nation westward from the
Mississippi across thousands of miles of rugged unknown land to the Pacific Ocean. This great
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accomplishment sparked the imagination of the American people and made them feel the need to explore
more of the continent on which they lived. Lewis and Clark accepted the challenges, and paved the way
for many other Americans towards Westward Expansion. In the outlook of its great achievements, the
expedition is one of the greatest explorations of the world.
Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 1774, near Charlottesville, Virginia(Snyder, p.10).
Lewis joined the militia in 174 and made his way to Ensign, where during this militia he was attached to
the sublegion of General Mad Anthony Wayne commanded by Lieutenant William Clark. William
Clark was born on August 1,1770, in Caroline County, Virginia(Snyder, p.10). In his capabilities and
background, he and Lewis shared much in common. They were young, adventurous, intelligent,
resourceful, courageous, and born leaders. Experienced as woodsmen-frontiersmen, and seasoned Army
officers, they were cool in crises and quick to make the right decisions.
Over the years Clark, many times over, would prove to be perfect as the co-commander of the
expedition. In the beginning of their army friendship, Lewis and Clark were not long together. On July
1,176, Clark resigned his commission-mainly to help untangle the confused business affairs of his
brother(Snyder, p.1). While they shared the experiences of the Northwest Campaign against the British
and Indians, Lewis and Clark formed bonds of friendship(Snyder, p.1).
On March 6, 1801, Lewis received a letter offering a job as a secretary aide for Thomas Jefferson.
The letter said, Your knowlege of the Western country, of the army, and of all its interests & relations
has rendered it desirable for public as well as private purposes that you should be engaged in that
office”(Snyder, p.). Lewis gratefully accepted the position.
Although they had many qualities in common they also complimented eachothers differences.
Lewis was melancholic and moody, and Clark was care-free and even-tempered. Lewis was the better
educated, who possessed a romantic and speculative mind, was at home with inventive ideas. Clark was
more of a adventurous man of action, who dedicated his life to the wilderness. Each supplied very
different qualities which balanced their friendship. Their close friendship was a rare example of two men
with good hearts sharing responsibilities without ever losing the others respect or loyalty.
Despite the frequent hardships, stress, and other things that could have ruined any friendship,
they stayed strong. They proved to get through these struggles as brothers in command and leadership.
During the entire journey, there is not a single trace of dispute between them.
The United States’ President Thomas Jefferson was unexpectedly offered the entire territory
called Louisiana, while attempting to purchase New Orleans from France. Thomas Jefferson had
previously proposed expeditions of western exploration, and the offer of Louisiana now provided the time
to move forward. Congress backed the expedition but wanted it to be for a purpose and not only
discovery. Jefferson explained his expedition as a “literary pursuit”- “an effort to add to the geographic
and scientific knowledge of the area”(Snyder, p.18).
The United States accepted the offer of Louisiana for fifteen million dollars. And “at less than
three cents an acre” it had to be one of the greatest real estate deals in history(Snyder, p.14). This
enormous, 88,000 square -mile area included the rivers, the mountains, the valleys, the forests, the ports,
the prairies, the wildlife, of a region of unmeasurable wealth , and of unimaginable wonders”(Snyder,
p.14). It included most of the lands west of the Mississippi River, from the Gulf of Mexico, to present day
Canada, and west to the Continental Divide.
The reference to Lewis knowlege of the Western country hinted that Jefferson was planning
an expedition to explore the West and had without a doubt decided that Lewis would be its commander.
Congress approved and appropriated funds for the expedition on February 8, 180. Lewis who had
worked closely with Jefferson on preparations for it, was made its leader.
In 180, as Lewis made arrangements for the expedition, Lewis concluded it would be good to
have a co-commander. With Jeffersons consent, he offered the job to his friend and former commanding
officer, William Clark. William at the time was living with his brother in Clarksville, Indiana Territory.
Clark accepted, saying in his letter, I have long anticipated and am much pleased. . . . My friend, I do
assure you that no man lives with whome I would prefer to undertake Such a trip as yourself”(Snyder,
p.15).
Before the Expedition, the West was an unexplored and unmapped virgin land. The members of
the Expedition would have to make their way through this vast country, living off of its resources and
trying to survive through its harsh conditions. During their travels they would encounter several primitive
tribes and dangerous animals. On horseback, foot, and by boat they would struggle over massive
mountain ranges, across endless plains, through large forests, and fighting against powerful raging
waters.
Meriwether Lewis began the journey at Washington, D.C., on July 5, 180. In Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, he bought scientific equipment and took a cram course in celestial observation from an
astronomer and surveyor, Andrew Ellicott(Snyder, p.16). At Pittsburgh, he gathered supplies of arms and
military from Harpers Ferry and Schuylkill Philadelphia Arsenals. These and a wide assortment of other
items were loaded aboard a specially designed keelboat.
On August 0th Lewis and a party of men departed down the Ohio River. Many other men were
recruited along the way. At Clarksville, opposite Louisville, Lewis was joined by his co-commander,
William Clark. The party made its winter camp along the Mississippi River, above St. Louis at Wood
River, Illinois.
Ascending the Missouri River in 1804 proved to be very slow as the men towed the keelboat and
two smaller maneuverable craft, called pirogues, against the swift current. The only expedition member
to die on the journey was Sgt. Charles Floyd, as he fell sick to appendicitis and he was buried near present
day Sioux City, Iowa. The difficulties of the first summer and autumn made the party into a tougher
“Corps of Discovery.”
On May 14, 1804, after a winter of duties and final preparations, the explorers headed their boats
into the current of the river under a jentle brease. The party numbered at 45 from Wood River to its
1804-05 winter establishment at Fort Mandan, North Dakota. And numbered at from Mandan to the
Pacific and its return in 1805-06.
The expedition spent a productive winter at Fort Mandan, which they built in November 1804
near present Washburn, North Dakota. The fort was close to the five Knife River villages of the friendly
Mandan and Minitari (Hidatsa) Indians. Here the commanders gained valuable knowledge of the country
west to the Rockies and recruited as interpreters the French-Canadian fur trader, Toussaint Charbonneau.
Included with Charbonneau was his Shoshoni wife, Sacagawea. Together with their newborn son, they
would travel all the way to the Pacific and back to the Mandan villages.
In April 1805, the keelboat departed for St. Louis, and the party of continued up the Missouri
in the two pirogues and six dugout canoes. As they forged westward through country on which the foot
of civilized man had never trodden, the explorers met danger as they were suffering from hunger,
fatigue, and sickness.
The first of many councils with Indian tribes took place north of present Omaha, Nebraska at a
place the captains called Councile Bluff. Here they gave presents and peace medals to the Oto chiefs
and informed them of the new sovereignty of the United States. Chief Le Borgne grew strong ties with
Lewis and Clark, as his welcome considered of a three gun salute. Chief Le Borgne was confused about
news of Lewis’ African Slave, York. He was suprised and tried rubbing his chest to see if he wore
make-up(Snyder, p.5).
They encountered the Great Falls of the Missouri in mid-June 1805 and spent weeks with their
heavy canoes and equipment around the falls. They reached the source of the Missouri in August.
Miraculously, the Shoshoni band contacted there were Sacagaweas people, led by her brother Chief
Cameahwait. This coincidence together with Sacagaweas ability to speak Shoshoni, enhanced the trading
for horses. These were needed for their travels over the Continental Divide and through the Bitterroot
Mountains to navigable waters of the Clearwater River, Idaho. Here they made new dugout canoes, left
their horses with the friendly Nez Perce Indians, and were once again riding the waters.
Navigating down the Clearwater and Columbia Rivers the explorers in November 1805, reached
the great Pacific Ocean which we been so long anxious to See. The north shore of the Columbia proved
game enough and were exposed to the fury of winter storms. In December 1805, the Expedition
constructed Fort Clatsop on a sheltered site near present Astoria, Oregon. The winter months were wet
and dismal; Christmas dinner consisted of spoiled elk meat.
Their four month stay at Fort Clatsop was a busy time. The captains worked over their notes and
maps. During their stay they entertained Indians for food, and gained from them important geographic
and ethnographic information. They sent hunters out daily and dispatched a detail of men to the ocean to
make salt by boiling sea water. After the disappointment of no contact with coastal trading vessels for
possible return by sea, the “Corps of Discovery” began the long way home.
Struggling upstream against the current of the Columbia, they traded their canoes to Indians for
horses near todays The Dalles, Oregon. Traveling overland, they returned to the Nez Perce villages and
retrieved their horses from them. But the group met nearly a months delay in crossing the Bitter-roots
due to severely deep snow.
In July 1806, they reached Travelers Rest Camp near present Missoula, Montana. Here, the party
separated. Lewis with a small group explored todays Blackfoot, Sun, and Marias Rivers and became
engaged in the most serious Indian argument of the entire journey.
Clark and his group headed southeast to the Yellowstone River, traveling past the Shoshoni tribal
lands. Sacagawea contributed important guide services to Clark as she pointed out the Indian trails that
led to the Yellowstone. Clark and his party once again made dugout canoes and explored the river
downstream to its connection with the Missouri where they met Lewis group. After a short stop at the
Mandan villages, the homeward bound voyagers made a fast descent of the Missouri to St. Louis. They
arrived in St. Louis on September , 1806.
Lewis and Clark influenced thousands of Americans to move West after their exploration.
Americans all over were excited and ready to travel after hearing stories of the beauties and wonders of
the west. With people anxious to move out and make history, no more than thirty years later came the
Oregon Trail. This time there were hundreds of people and they didn’t travel only on foot, they had
carriages. The Oregon Trail was historic, but they weren’t the first and Lewis and Clark influenced their
travels.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled more than 8,000 miles over a period of years, 4
months, and days. The explorers had no idea what to expect from the unexplored territory. Together
these men and their leaders shared their hopes, fears, joys, and disappointments. Many other explorers
followed their footsteps, but Lewis and Clark had been the first. They influenced Americans to move
westward, and towns formed and later on cities formed, on once what used to be meadows and plain. The
names of Lewis and Clark will be linked forever in history and known by every American.
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