Lewis & Clark & Sacagawea's Expedition
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The travelers had been alerted that they could find the whale at this location understanding it to be a must-see. This is January 1806 with Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery crew a year and a half into their two and a half year journey. Among the crew is Sacagawea, a native born woman who has been with the party since North Dakota and who along the way has given birth to the baby she now carries on her back. All the while guiding this expedition of 30 people. Shoshone by birth, Sacagawea has lived a landlocked existence her entire life. So faced with this creature, this vision, this Leviathan of the deep on one side of her, and the Pacific Ocean on the other. She is suddenly faced with the unimaginable.
So much of this journey has been otherworldly. Towering mountains, endless rivers, strange peoples in unfamiliar lands. For the white men, it was a journey into a haunting, awesome world they would report upon with maps and documents. But for Sacagawea, here at the edge of the continent, She might have had another impression, that here was a continent destined for cataclysmic change. And it was coming.
Welcome to American History Hit. I'm Don Wildman. Thanks for joining us. Our guest today is Margaret Hiddle. She is the Assistant Professor of History and the Director of Indigenous Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. Hello, Margaret. Thanks for joining us on American History Hit to talk about the most famous camping trip in American history. Greetings.
Hello. I'm excited to be here.
Before we get into the events of the expedition, Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea, let's provide listeners with context. Lewis and Clark's expedition had been dispatched for what purpose exactly? Why was this so necessary at this time?
The short answer is American expansion. The longer answer, the more specific context, is that Thomas Jefferson had recently purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, 1803, and this is territory from Louisiana all the way up to the Montana, Great Plains, Pacific Northwest area. But the problem is that they bought that territory from France. They didn't know anything about it, and they didn't actually negotiate for that territory with the people who lived there, the native people who lived there and were still the legal owners of the land. And so... What the Lewis and Clark expedition was supposed to do was get information, figure out what resources were in this territory, figure out what the Native relationships were in this territory, and then also open trade routes with Native people to help the United States get a foothold in these Indigenous territories.
Sure. This is the great sight unseen real estate purchase of all time. I mean, they just did this. And now these several guys who we're about to discuss in more detail take off in what's called the Core Discovery Expedition. It was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson, as you say, kind of an inventory of the United States' newly acquired resources, which is the unkind way of saying there's a lot of people out there as well. And what are we going to be encountering now that we're Well, another third of the country is suddenly being added to this in the big picture. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were the leaders of this expedition. There were 30 others in this corps.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–13:24
2
Why did Jefferson send the Lewis and Clark expedition and what were its objectives?
13:24–21:50
3
Who made up the Corps of Discovery and what roles did key members play?
21:50–29:58
4
Who was Sacagawea and how did her background influence the expedition?
29:58–46:09
5
How did Sacagawea contribute practically to survival and diplomacy on the trail?
46:09–50:00