The Pinckney treaty of 1795 had resolved friction between Spain and the United States over the right to navigate the Mississippi and the right for Americans to transfer their goods to ocean-going vessels at New Orleans. This détente was threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte’s plans to revive the French empire in the New World. Bonaparte planned to recapture the valuable sugar colony of St. Domingue then use Louisiana as the granary for his empire. Eventually, France acquired Louisiana from Spain in 1800 sending a large French army to St. Domingue and preparing to send another to New Orleans.

In addition to making military preparations for a war with France over the Mississippi Valley, Jefferson sent James Monroe to try to purchase New Orleans from France.  With his army in St. Domingue decimated by yellow fever and war with England imminent, Napoleon decided to give up his plans for Louisiana, and offered to sell the entire territory of Louisiana for $15 million. Although this far exceeded his instructions from President Jefferson, Monroe quickly agreed.

Now in possession of a huge tract of unexplored territory, President Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis to explore the lands west of the Mississippi River and attempt to find a trade route to the Pacific Ocean.  Lewis chose William Clark as his co-leader for the mission. The expedition began in 1804 and lasted over two years. The journey of approximately 8,000-miles was deemed a huge success and provided new geographic, ecological and cultural information about previously uncharted areas of North America.

The “Corps of Discovery” shoved off on May 14, 1804 from Wood River, Illinois. The party consisting of 45 men, traveled primarily by keel-boat and canoe and made about 10 to 20 miles per day.  A bedraggled and harried Corps finally reached the stormy Pacific Ocean in November of 1805. They returned via a path very similar to the path they took west and arrived in St. Louis on September 23, where they were received with a hero’s welcome.

Lewis and Clark then returned to Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1806 and shared their experiences with President Jefferson.  While they had failed to identify a coveted Northwest Passage water route across the continent, they had completed their mission of surveying the Louisiana Territory from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and did so against tremendous odds with just one death and little violence.

The Corps produced invaluable maps and geographical information, identified at least 120 animal specimens and 200 botanical samples and initiated peaceful relations with dozens of Native American tribes.

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