Thomas Jefferson Instructions To Meriwether Lewis Summary

Thomas Jefferson, the American President wanted to explore and discover the hidden treasures in the large Western parts of America that were inhabited by the local Indian tribes for centuries. Jefferson then hired his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis to undertake the expedition, find new routes and discover the eco system in the region. He also wanted them to build better ties with the local tribes that would help foster trade. The expedition of Lewis and Clark faced many challenges, interacted with many new Native peoples and was an important milestone in American history. Lewis and Clark had many, many challenges.

As mentioned there were numerous goals of the expedition, each rivaling one another for their level of importance. Perhaps one of the most important goals of the expedition was to introduce diplomatic relations to the Native Americans that they were surely to encounter along their journey, as well as, gain access to trade rights with the Indians. Under the terms of Louisiana Purchase, the Americans, in this case, Lewis & Clark were to notify the Indians of the new sovereignty of the United States. Jefferson also had specifically instructed Lewis and Clark to form suitable relations with the Natives in order to carry out linguistic and ethnological studies.

“Analysis of the Declaration of Independence” and Thomas Jefferson’s letter on Shay’s rebellion are two documents that help validate Thomas Jefferson’s likelihood of supporting modern day rebellions. The quote “‘All men are created equal’, writes author Thomas Jefferson. And everyone has basic rights that cannot be taken away” from “Analysis of the Declaration of Independence” shows that since everyone has rights everyone can sate their opinions about the way others and themselves are being treated and what the government needs to improve on. “Any government that tries to deny those rights to its people is a government that should not deserve to exist.

The Death of Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis was an American soldier and explorer. Lewis was Thomas Jefferson’s private secretary, he was then given an offer to lead an expedition with William Clark in the west part of Mississippi. Jefferson bought a piece of land from France which was called the Louisiana Purchase. The land was later handed off to Lewis as he became governor of the land, which caused him to develop enemies. The reason for Meriwether Lewis traveling to Washington was for a settlement about money.

Thomas Jefferson had just bought the Louisiana Purchase and was extremely curious about the culture, landscape, and people living in that region. He sent a letter to Meriwether Lewis, his private secretary, asking him to discover the lands that he had just bought. Lewis took the responsibility and took along with him his close friend. William Clark. The expedition was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson and the some U.S. Army volunteers accompanied them.

When it comes to the history of the United States and how it became the free country that it is today, there are a few things that come to mind instantly such as The Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, The Constitution, and a few others; one of the other important documents that isn’t as often thought about is the letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists back in 1802 regarding the separation of The Church and the state. All of these documents played their own part in the foundation of the country we now know today as The United States of America, or The Land of the Free. This paper will be used to compare a few of these documents as well as what the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution

In January 1803, Jefferson wrote a secret message to Congress detailing his plans for scientific exploration of the West. He asked Congress for $2,500 to be used to fund a transcontinental journey of “an intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for enterprise” to explore “to the Western Ocean.” He wanted the men to locate the Northwest Passage, if it existed, and to develop trade relations with American Indians in the West. This expedition would come to be called the Corps of Volunteers for North Western Discovery, or the Corps of

Ambrose tells an in depth story of Meriwether Lewis’ journey from childhood to becoming Thomas Jefferson’s choice as leader of the expedition to the Pacific. Meriwether Lewis was Virginia born, “...in a time of independence and where the West provided exploration and East provided education and knowledge.” Lewis grew up in a family of explorers and land owners which made them particularly rich. His father died from pneumonia when he was 5 years old and his mother remarried Captain John Marks. Lewis always had a very close relationship with his mother.

After reading the U.S Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. I realized that all three of these documents have common signers and Thomas Jefferson as the creator of these documents. God also plays a major role in these documents. As mentioned in the Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Declaration, 2016, p. 1)”. This document, which was created, first in order to assure our countries stability states that our country has been built on God, and it united the thirteen colonies.

In 1787, a group of men gathered in Philadelphia to make revisions to the Articles of Confederation that governed their country. Instead, these men locked the doors, closed the windows, and planned out a completely new system of government. They knew that the strength the new Constitution gave to the government would be beneficial and change the country for the better; however, they also knew that they were imperfect. One of these men, Benjamin Franklin, once said that “For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.” He was not alone in acknowledging his imperfections.

President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to have the Lewis and Clark expedition find a waterway that could connect the United States for transportation because he had aspirations to expand to the Pacific and Northwest making the expedition important to his agenda for the United States. (The Corp of Discovery, 2016). Another reason for the important expedition was to create a relationship with the American Indians, and the American fur trade, while learning the North American topography and geography of the land which was also important to the exploration (Corps of Discover, 2016). Thomas Jefferson was important to the Lewis and Clark expedition because he organized the journey, sought funding and made Lewis and Clark head

Benjamin Banneker, in his letter to Thomas Jefferson, offers a series of arguments against the institution of slavery through a respectful tone, references to history, and the Bible. As a son of former slaves, Banneker is seeking justice for the black population and uses Jefferson’s own words against him as he speaks on behalf of “Black America.” He shares his opinions with Jefferson, who is higher authority, in a respectful manner while still managing to criticize him. Banneker starts off his letter to Jefferson by calling his “Sir.” He refers to Jefferson this way because he wants to be respectful to this man who exists as a higher authority as a politician.

Jefferson's secret message was a very interesting read. Jefferson has big dreams in terms of expansion and being able to claim territory across the continent and not just on the eastern part where it is already established. Jefferson sees the potential conflict of Native Americans in the western territory growing uneasy of the practices of the colonies buying land in the past and proposes that they need to support an effort to stop any conflict before it arises a potential rebellion. The solutions that he offers are basically to try and send an expedition in order to convince the Indians to be self reliant farmers. Living on their own land, not being Dependant upon anyone.

In 1791 Benjamin Banneker accuses Thomas Jefferson of being a hypocrite by owning slaves and previously stating, “All men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Benjamin Banneker was the son of a former slave. He drafts this letter in 1791, to Thomas Jefferson to address these issues in a respectful and historical tone. Banneker was an educated man (i.e. farmer, astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, and author.) He knew his place in society as well as how society worked.

Hypocrisy is one of the worst moral crimes someone can commit. Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson explains that he has committed this crime. He has gone back on his morale of everyone having unalienable rights by letting slavery continue to happen, and Banneker believes he is the prime contender in allowing this crime to happen and that he should be the start and make the move to stop slavery. Banneker explains this to Jefferson in such a way that the letter is both respectful and thoughtful while also being rude due to the use of how he phrases his sentences, that his argument can not be questioned because of his use of ‘Sir’ to show his respect, and his ardent choice of words which are all collectively used to explain how Jefferson is being hypocritical and show him why he should fix this.