1) Thomas Jefferson believed several myths about the western lands of North America, including the existence of woolly mammoths, blue-eyed Welsh-speaking Native Americans, and a river system connecting the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. 2) The documents discuss Jefferson's motivation for commissioning the Lewis and Clark Expedition, including his desire to map the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase territory and establish a claim to the Pacific Northwest region. 3) Led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the Corps of Discovery spent over two years exploring the western lands, mapping rivers and encountering indigenous tribes, doubling the size of the United States.

1. Lewis And Clark
Is going into the forest today Dangerous? Is
leaving the safety of civilization something
you would want to do? If so why? If not What
would make you go on an adventure? Fame
Money Glory?

2. True Or False
At the time Thomas Jefferson believed
1. there were woolly mammoths roaming the West.
2. there was a tribe of blue-eyed Indians living in the West who
spoke Welsh, the language of people from Wales, a region on
the west coast of the island of Great Britain.
3. there was a river or series of connected rivers, starting at the
Mississippi, that crossed the western mountains and reached
the Pacific Ocean.
4. the Blue Ridge Mountains were taller than the Rocky
Mountains.
5. the West had many erupting volcanoes.

3. True or False
1.unicorns could be found in the West.
2.there were mountains in the West made of
undissolved salt.
3.some beavers in the West were seven feet tall.
4.buffaloes were friendly and had slim waists.
5.Peruvian llamas roamed the West.

4. True or False Answers
• All of these statements are false, it is likely
that Thomas Jefferson believed many of them
to be true because such “facts” were included
in books in his library.

5. Lewis and Clark
• During much of their journey, Meriwether Lewis and William
Clark had no idea what they would encounter next. And, in a
sense, that is how everyone lives every day.
• Even when we think we know what's around the corner, life
can throw surprises at us.
• The story of Lewis and Clark is the universal story of human
beings dealing with the unexpected.

6. Doubling the Nation’s Size: The
Louisiana Purchase
• When Jefferson learned that Spain had secretly ceded
Louisiana to France in 1800, he instructed his ministers to
negotiate the purchase of the port of New Orleans and
possibly West Florida.
• Jefferson wanted to insure that American farmers in the Ohio
River Valley had access to the Gulf of Mexico via the
Mississippi River—the river was a key to farmers' economic
well-being.
• Even before the French took over Louisiana, the Spaniards
had closed the Mississippi River in 1802. While Jefferson was
known to be partial to the French, having the Emperor
Napoleon's driving interests for world domination next door
was not an attractive prospect; thus, Jefferson acted swiftly.

7. Doubling the Nation’s Size Cont..
• To his surprise, Napoleon, needing funds to finance
a new European war with England, offered to sell
Jefferson most of the land from the Mississippi River
to the Rocky Mountains.
• His price of $15 million amounted to approximately
4 cents per acre for 828,000 square miles, doubling
the size of the nation.
• Jefferson understood that the U.S. Constitution said
nothing about the purchase of foreign territory, he
set aside his strict constructionist ideals to make the
deal—Congress approved the purchase five months
after the fact.

8. Doubling the Nation…
• Jefferson then outfitted a twenty-five man
expedition to explore the new lands. Led by his
secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Army Captain
William Clark, these adventurers took two and
one-half years to cover 8,000 miles.
• They traveled up the Missouri River, across the
Continental Divide, and down the Columbia River
to the Pacific before retracing their steps to St.
Louis. The expedition is considered one of the
great exploratory quests in human history.

9. Inside the Crops
• $2,500 hundred dollars were appropriated to fund a small
expeditionary group, whose mission was to explore the
uncharted West. Jefferson called the group the Corps of
Discovery. It would be led by Jefferson’s secretary, Meriwether
Lewis, and Lewis’ friend, William Clark.
• Over the next four years, the Corps of Discovery would travel
thousands of miles, experiencing lands, rivers and peoples that
no Americans ever had before.

10. Animals
• http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/i
dptv11.socst.ush.mit8gat/moments-in-time-a-
grizzly-attacks/

11. Cold
• http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/i
dptv11.socst.ush.mit4wff/moments-in-time-
wolves-and-frozen-feet/
• The Natives are used to the cold