Introduction
Lewis and Clark were tasked by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804 to explore the newly acquired territory of the Louisiana purchase from France: (The area west of the Mississippi river.) Ultimately the ability to move out west, and to explore and tame the wild frontier would become a true testament to the American Experience. Your task will be to read excerpts of their journey so that you might better understand their impact.
1. You will evaluate the primary sources for valuable information.
2. Ultimately you will use the information to provided to create a model, illustration, or description of one of the items that Lewis and Clark would have brought back from their journeys to give to the President. (Due Monday)
3. You will include alongside this illustration, model, item etc. a description of what that object or animal or tree, etc would mean to the future of American History. (Also due Monday)
Task
Your task will be to evaluate their experiences and then pick and choose which of the things that they received from their travels would become most important to America. Follow the directions in the introduction. You may craft a model of the item you have read about, you may write a story about something that they wrote about, you may take pictures of things that you see outside that may match their stories as well. Of course you can also illustrate the item too. All that is required is that you recreate the object that you choose and then craft a paragraph to attach to it that defines why this object would have been important to the western exploration.
Process
Links:
General Info: http://www.history.com/topics/lewis-and-clark
Very interesting site that will guide you through the entire exploration courtesy of National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/journey_leg_1.html
Lewis and Clark supplies (What they brought back) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/resources.html
Monticello Museum information: https://www.monticello.org/site/families-and-teachers/thomas-jefferson-and-lewis-and-clark-expedition
Items that Lewis and Clark brought back to be placed in Jefferson's home: http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3086
Lewis and Clark journal entries https://lewisclark.net/journals
Journals from Kansas https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/lewis-and-clark-kansas-journal-entries/11524
more Journal entries http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/lewis-clark-journal/
Evaluation
To help you in your process of deciding on an object that the explorers may have brought back with them to show the true character of the West, use these questions (Answers due today) to guide you: (Answers should be in the readings but of course you can use google and other search engines to find answers that you do not see within them)
1. What U.S. president bought the Louisiana Territory?
2. Who did he buy it from and how much did it cost?
3. How much bigger did the United States get from the purchase of the Louisiana Territory?
4. What was the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
5. The expedition departed from Camp Wood with a large supply of __________.
food
paper
film
6. On the journey, the crew got a lot of its food by __________.
trading
farming
shopping
7. Lewis and Clark gave __________ to many tribal chiefs.
money
autographs
gifts
8. Black Buffalo was a Teton Sioux chief. He __________ the crew in September 1804.
saved
attacked
joined
9. Toussaint Charbonneau joined the expedition as an interpreter. His wife, __________, came too.
Pocahontas
Sacagawea
Britney
10. At a fork in the Missouri River, the crew chose to go __________.
home
north
south
11. To get through the Rockies, Lewis and Clark desperately needed __________.
jeeps
horses
canoes
12. Crossing the Bitterroot Mountains, the expedition encountered a __________.
tornado
blizzard
traffic jam
13. The __________ Indians helped the explorers find fish and roots to eat.
Big Mouth
Teton Sioux
Nez Perce
14. After canoeing down the Columbia River, Lewis and Clark reached __________.
the Atlantic Ocean
the Pacific Ocean
Hollywood
Conclusion
Be sure to bring your item into class on Monday to present to the class. The Western territorial exploration will continue throughout this class!