Lewis And Clark Expedition - Pacific Ocean And Return | Britannica

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Legacy

Lewis and Clark Expedition: Corps of Discovery annotated member list
Lewis and Clark Expedition: Corps of Discovery annotated member listAnnotated list of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery from William Clark's journal, 1825–28. Clark notes that Sacagawea (“Se car ja we au”) is dead, among others.(more)

Some insist Lewis and Clark’s legacy is insignificant because they were not the first non-Indians to explore the area, did not find an all-water route across the continent, and failed to publish their journals in a timely fashion. Although the first official account appeared in 1814, the two-volume narrative did not contain any of their scientific achievements. Nevertheless, the expedition contributed significant geographic and scientific knowledge of the West, aided the expansion of the fur trade, and strengthened U.S. claims to the Pacific. Clark’s maps portraying the geography of the West, printed in 1810 and 1814, were the best available until the 1840s.

Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Sacagawea
Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and SacagaweaBronze sculpture of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Sacagawea at Fort Benton, Montana.(more)

No American exploration looms larger in U.S. history. The Lewis and Clark Expedition has been commemorated with stamps, monuments, and trails and has had numerous places named after it. St. Louis hosted the 1904 World’s Fair during the expedition’s centennial, and Portland, Oregon, sponsored the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. In 1978 Congress established the 3,700-mile (6,000-km) Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. While Lewis and Clark had a great interest in documenting Indian cultures, they represented a government whose policies can now be seen to have fostered dispossession and cultural genocide. This dichotomy was on display during the event’s bicentennial, commemorated by two years of special events across the expedition route.

Jay H. Buckley

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