Overview of Expedition
In 1803 Thomas Jefferson purchased The Lousiana Purchase from France. Eager to explore America he wasted no time setting up an expedition. The President chose his close friend Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition. Lewis selected his friend and former commanding officer, William Clark, to serve as co-leader of the expedition. The objectives were to map the land(cartography), find the Northwest Passage, record information of Native American tribes, and to study. They studied wildlife, geology, botony, terrain, etc. The expedition began when Lewis left Pittsburgh August 31, 1803. The expedition encountered 50 Native American tribes, found 300 different types of wildlife, and surprisingly only 1 death occured on the expedition. This expedition gave Americans the courage and knowledge that moving west was safe.