Into the Wilderness: The Lewis and Clark Expedition

1 Thomas Jefferson's Dream

1 Thomas Jefferson's Dream Thomas Jefferson had a dream. As a boy in the 1750s, he lived with his family near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. At the time, that was as far west as most American colonists lived. Beyond lay an unknown land. He wondered what the land to the west was like. Sometimes men crossed the mountains to hunt. When they came back, they told stories of the land beyond the mountains. They talked about a rich, beautiful land called Kentucky and about the wide Ohio River that flowed toward the setting sun. Young Tom also heard stories about what might lay beyond the mighty Mississippi River. Did giant animals still roam that country? Were there mountains of salt? Tom listened and wanted to know more about this land. He decided that one day he would find out. But until that day, he would dream of what might be beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Mississippi River. As he grew older, Thomas Jefferson never forgot this dream. He read about western travelers and their trips. By writing letters and talking with some of these men he learned more. Tom collected fossils, Indian artifacts, and other samples they brought back and asked them to bring him more, so he could learn about the plants, animals, and people that lived in the West. He wanted to know everything he could about this mysterious land. 3 Events in Tom's life and in America kept him from pursuing his dream for some time. He married and had a family. He made his living as a lawyer and a farmer. Virginia needed leaders, and Tom served in its government. In the 1770s leaders in the American Colonies began to talk about independence from England. Tom Jefferson went to Philadelphia to meet with other patriots. In 1776 he wrote the most famous document in American history, the Declaration of Independence, announcing the birth of a new nation. The Revolutionary War would decide if there would be a United States of America. This was not a good time to learn more about the West. In 1783 the Revolutionary War ended. America had won its independence. Thomas Jefferson was very busy as one of the leaders of the new country, but he could also think about exploring again. The United States lay east of the Mississippi. The land west of the Mississippi was not part of the new nation. This fact did not bother Jefferson. He still wanted to send an American explorer into the mysterious West, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Over the next ten years, Jefferson tried three times to send explorers into the West, but each try failed. The first man Jefferson asked was his friend George Rogers Clark, a war hero from Kentucky. Clark was busy defending Kentucky from Indian attacks and had money and legal problems caused by the war. He turned Jefferson down. Little did either man know that 20 years later Clark's youngest brother, William, would help lead the expedition that fulfilled Jefferson's dream. A few years later, Jefferson met an American in France and 4 Thomas Jefferson (The Filson Historical Society) got him to try to explore the American West in an unusual way. Instead of leaving from Kentucky and going west, this man tried to reach the West by going east across Russia and then crossing the Pacific to get there. He was arrested in Russia and sent back to France. In 1793 Jefferson tried again. This time the explorer was a French scientist visiting America. He was going to leave from Kentucky, but he got involved with French spies and never went west. Three times Thomas Jefferson had tried to get someone to go on a western expedition, and three times the attempt had failed. He must have wondered if his dream would ever come 5 true. Ten years passed, and in 1803 Jefferson finally had the pleasure of seeing his long dreamed of expedition take shape and begin its journey to the Pacific. In 1801 Jefferson became president of the United States. The duties of his job kept him busy, and he didn't try to send explorers out west right away. But in 1802 he read something that made him decide that America had to send explorers to the Pacific. The reason was his fear of the British and their plans for North America...