Why did President Jefferson give the instructions to Captain Lewis?

President Thomas Jefferson gave Meriwether Lewis detailed instructions for the expedition. Jefferson specified the kinds of information Lewis should obtain about any American Indian nations he might encounter.

What did Jefferson instruct Lewis and Clark do quizlet?

What were President Jefferson’s instructions to Lewis and Clark about how to deal with the Native Americans? They were told to be friendly to them. Describe one arrangement Lewis and Clark made during their 5-month winter with the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians. Lewis packed his specimens and Clark made detailed maps.

Who was in Jefferson’s letter of instructions to Lewis?

In the meantime, Lewis had enlisted William Clark, experienced frontier army soldier and younger brother of Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark, to join him as co-captain of the Corps of Discovery. In his letter of instructions to Meriwether Lewis, national expansion and economic development dominated Jefferson’s thinking.

What did Jefferson ask Lewis and Clark to do?

Jefferson had handed Lewis and Clark a daunting list of tasks that required scientific and technical abilities, talent in diplomacy, political sagacity, backwoods adeptness, military adroitness, and literary and cartographic competence. The list of goals also posed challenges, a kind of test of Jefferson’s whole idea.

Who was the leader of Jefferson’s expedition?

In addition to being political representatives of their nation, the Expedition leaders would also be Jefferson’s ethnographers.

Why was it important for Jefferson to draw maps?

Drawing maps of the new region had significance because they fulfilled Jefferson’s long-held desire for knowledge about the West, they established more secure claims to territory, and they were precursors of detailed surveys that would lead to land sales and settlement.

What did Jefferson want Lewis and Clark to do?

Jefferson’s instructions to fix the trading route to the Pacific by observation meant that Lewis and Clark should mark territory—measure and map it by making marks on paper like a bear makes claw marks on trees.

In the meantime, Lewis had enlisted William Clark, experienced frontier army soldier and younger brother of Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark, to join him as co-captain of the Corps of Discovery. In his letter of instructions to Meriwether Lewis, national expansion and economic development dominated Jefferson’s thinking.

What was the cost of the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

Jefferson officially asked for $2,500 in funding from Congress, though some sources indicate the expedition ultimately cost closer to $50,000. Meriwether Lewis was joined by his friend William Clark and 50 others on the journey, including an African-American slave and a female Indian guide named Sacagawea.

In addition to being political representatives of their nation, the Expedition leaders would also be Jefferson’s ethnographers.