Post # 3

The Significance of The Journey of Lewis and Clark
Readings

One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis and Clark by Colin G. Calloway

The Journals of Lewis and Clark Edited by Bernard DeVoto

After reading The Journals of Lewis and Clark one is forced to wrestle with the question, what is the significance of this journey? What was this journey really about? There are a wide variety of interpretations of the true significance of this expedition and a number of different vantage points from which to view the journey. So what is the significance of this journey and what was its focus?

One needs to look no farther than Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Meriwether Lewis to see one interpretation of what this journey was intended to be. Jefferson writes, “The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principle stream of it, as, by it’s course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.” (cited in DeVoto 482) We see the theme of the economic significance of the journey re-appear throughout Jefferson’s instructions. He goes on to encourage Lewis to make a favorable impression on the Native population for the purpose of future commerce. (cited in DeVoto 482, 484). Other themes such as mapping and scientific discovery are mentioned. However, the predominant focus that can be gleaned from Jefferson’s instructions is the need to assert American power amongst the native population and prepare the area for its commercial future as a part of the United States. This interpretation would seem to fit in well into the framework of those who would interpret the “West” as an area of commercial exploitation by the East.

However, even though this is clearly one of the primary focuses of the expedition, there are a number of other interpretations of the focus and significance of this journey. If one is looking at this journey through the lens of the majority of Americans today, I fear there may be a gross misinterpretation of the true significance of the journey. After watching “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery”, produced for PBS by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, one is left with the impression that this journey was about two larger than life heroes, whose triumphant journey through the rough and unexplored wilderness, was the epitome of what it is to be an American. I want to be clear not to undermine the true heroism required and the very real accomplishment that this journey was. However, this interpretation seems to overshadow many of the truly significant aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

For example, if one looks at the Lewis and Clark expedition through the eyes of the Native American, or the eyes of Colin Calloway, he or she would get a very different view of the significance of the journey. Calloway makes it very clear in his book that the history of the land that Lewis and Clark explored goes back far beyond 1803. He writes that, “Like their European predecessors, Lewis and Clark depended on Indians to point the way across the continent. Armed with the information Indian maps conveyed, they began the process of rethinking, renaming, and remaking the West. But the knowledge of the West was already there. It was extensive in scope and deep in history.” (Calloway 11) Calloway acknowledges that the move of the United States into the West had a transforming impact, but the history of the West did not begin with the footsteps of the two captains.

However, when one is looking at the Lewis and Clark expedition through the eyes of the Native Americans, he or she would find a variety of different views based upon tribe from which those eyes were gazing. For example, if one were looking through the eyes of the Mandan, they would see the expedition as possibly opening up the avenue for a new trade network. Or if one were looking through the eyes of the Blackfeet, they would see a new empire entering the West that was allying with its enemies for trade and was a new threat to them (cf DeVoto May 12 1806: p383, May 28 1806: p395, July 17 1806: p427, July 27 1806: p439).

So what are we to make of the significance of the Lewis and Clark expedition? First, it clearly was a great achievement to have survived such an expedition with only one fatality. Lewis and Clark added to the scientific and geographic understanding that the United States had of the west through their accomplishment. This can clearly not be ignored, but the historian cannot stop here. For the long-term significance we must look deeper. The expedition established the groundwork for a clear assertion of United States power in the west. Furthermore, it opened up a path and established relationships that would benefit commercial gains for the United States.