Jefferson also wanted to know what animals Lewis and Clark would encounter, and he wanted a full accounting of the things in the natural world that the two observed or interacted with along the route, which was the Missouri River.

Jefferson also wanted to make sure that there could be a trading port available to the young country in New Orleans, and Jefferson feared that residents of the western portion of the nation might split away. His reasons for the mission were many (beyond basic exploration), and he was smart to get Congress to appropriate the money for the trip.

What was the journey like and would I have liked to have been part of it? The journals that Lewis and Clark kept provided the president with a wealth of new information about the animals and the natural world in the northwest region of the young country. The abundance of...
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