Lewis & Clark: Journey to Another America

Topic 2: Thomas Jefferson's Scientific Project and the American West
By David Thomas Konig, Washington University

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The following text is excerpted from the essay in Lewis & Clark: Journey to Another America

July the 30th Monday [1804].... Jo. Fields Killed a Brarow or as the Ponie [Pawnee] call it Cho car tooch, this animale burrows in the ground & feeds on Bugs and flesh principally the little Dogs of the Prarie, also Something of the Vegetable Kind[.] [H]is Shape & Size is like that of a Beever, his head Mouth &c is like a Dog with its ears Cut off, his tale and hair like that of a Ground hog[.] Something longer and lighter, his interals like a Hogs, his Skin thick & loose, white & hair Short under its belly, of the Species of the Bear, and it has a white Streake from its nose to its Sholders, the Toe nails of its fore feet which is large is 1 inch and ? qtr. long and those of his hind feet which is much Smaller is ? long. We have this animale Skined and Stuffed. Short legs, raseing himself just above the ground when in motion[.]
----William Clark, journal entry, describing the badger Meriwether Lewis stuffed and sent to Thomas Jefferson

As Thomas Jefferson prepared his departure from Washington at the end of his embattled presidency in March 1809, he looked back with regret on the missed opportunities of the past eight years. "Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science," he wrote to his friend Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, and now he could once again enjoy "my supreme delight." Looking forward to his return to Virginia, Jefferson would be reunited with the artifacts of man and nature that he had collected and studied over the years, items that he had kept on display in the East Wing of the White House. Back in Monticello, he would arrange them in his home's foyer, the first things that he or anyone else would see upon entering Monticello. They were a restorative sight for eyes worn sore by the tedium of official correspondence.

Ironically, it was only Jefferson's political career that enabled him to collect many of those items. In perhaps the boldest move of his presidency, Jefferson had set in motion the fulfillment of a lifelong scientific curiosity by arranging for the purchase of the vast Louisiana Territory in 1803. The trans-Mississippi West had been an enduring fascination, dating from his childhood at Shadwell plantation on the edge of English settlement. For many Virginians such as his father, Peter Jefferson, the West long had inspired scientific speculation no less than it had attracted avid land speculation. Indian emissaries had passed through his home on their way to meet with English governors in Williamsburg, bringing with them lore about life, both animal and human, beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains that loomed behind them.

Photo credit: Head of a Californian Condor. Lewis made this drawing for his journal for February 16, 1806. William Clark Papers, Missouri Historical Society Archives.

1. The unknown quality of the West appealed to Jefferson's innate curiosity about nature, but his interests were also fed by those who taught him. What traditions of westering exploration influenced him? How are these still present in American culture?

2. It has been said that before their voyages Lewis and Clark knew less about the West than American astronauts knew about the moon. How well did their preparation equip them for the encounters they had with the natural world of the West? Did it make any difference that Lewis and Clark encountered other human beings as they tried to understand their new environment?

3. The West was a focus of international competition. How did national interest influence the expedition? What connection existed between Jefferson's scientific inquiries and the potential contributions the West might make to American national survival? How do we see Jefferson the politician behind Jefferson the scientist?

4. Jeffersonian diplomacy tried to avoid the use of force and to base the relations of peoples on a more harmonious foundation. How would the West and the Voyage of Discovery lead to such relations with the native peoples of North America? With those of Europe?

Allen, John Logan. Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, 1991.

Cutright, Paul Russell. Lewis and Clark, Pioneering Naturalists. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1969. Reprint. Greenwich, Conn.: Brompton Books, 1989.

Furtwangler, Albert. Acts of Discovery: Visions of America in the Lewis and Clark Journals. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Reprint. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999.

Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson & the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981.

Miller, Charles L. Jefferson and Nature. An Interpretation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988. Reprint. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Ronda, James P. Westering Captains: Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Great Falls, Mont.: Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, 1990.