President Thomas Jefferson made plans for an expedition. There are a few reasons why he did this. He wanted our country to explore the land to the west. As a country, we did not know much about the Louisiana Territory. We had just bought it from France. The president wanted to find a route across the country and wanted to learn more about what was there. He wanted to know about the geography. The president also wanted to develop good relations with the Native Americans.
A group of 50 Americans went on the trip. They were led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. St. Louis was their starting point. They traveled up along the Missouri River, mostly in a northwest direction.
Meriwether Lewis had been Jefferson’s personal secretary. William Clark was an army officer. The expedition began in 1803 and was first called the Corps of Discovery.
The explorers found several large Native American settlements where North Dakota is located today. The tribe was the Mandan tribe. They lived on the banks of the Missouri River. There were about 5,000 Indians in these settlements. The explorers stayed with the Mandans through winter.
That winter much learning and planning took place. What they learned and planned was very helpful to the trip. They hired several Frenchmen to go on their trip. The Frenchmen acted as guides. One of the Frenchmen brought his wife. She was a Shoshone who was fifteen years old. Her name was Sacajawea. Having Sacajawea on the trip was a very good thing. She added much to the success of the trip. Her knowledge of the west really helped. She also had needed language skills.
The expedition traveled north and west across the Rocky Mountains. They then went down along the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. They were the first citizens of the United States to cross the continent north of Mexico. They reached the Pacific coast by the winter of 1805.
In September 1806 the expedition returned to St. Louis. They were recognized as heroes.
After their trip across the country they built a fort. It was built in North Dakota. It was where the Mandan tribe lived. Building the fort had a sad effect on the Mandans. It almost destroyed their tribe by disease. By the late 1830s there were only 150 Mandans left. The diseases of the white settlers nearly wiped out their tribe completely.
Text Credits:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/21b.asp;
The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic, Michael Medved (The odds were heavily in the favor of the French to establish control and power in America, particularly in New Orleans.)