President Thomas Jefferson gave Meriwether Lewis detailed instructions for the expedition. While its primary mission was to explore waterways for a route to the Pacific Ocean, commerce with inhabitants of the region was a major goal. Jefferson specified the kinds of information Lewis should obtain about any American Indian nations he might encounter.
The commerce which may be carried on with the people inhabiting the line you will pursue, renders a knolege [sic] of those people important. You will therefore endeavor to make yourself acquainted . . . with the names of the nations & their numbers; . . . their possessions; their relations . . . ; language, traditions, monuments; . . . occupations . . . ; food, clothing, & domestic accommodations; . . . diseases . . . , & . . . remedies . . . ; . . . their laws, customs . . . ; and articles of commerce they may need or furnish & to what extent.
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
President Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803
Trade with American Indians
In 1803, while the United States was negotiating the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France, President Thomas Jefferson sent a confidential message to Congress proposing exploration of the region. Mindful of Congress’s authority to regulate commerce, Jefferson emphasized the need for better knowledge about American Indians of the Northwest in order to develop trade. Congress authorized and funded an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. An 1806 report to Congress with data gathered by Lewis and Clark confirmed the territory’s commercial potential.
In all your intercourse with the natives, . . . make them acquainted with the position, extent character, peaceable & commercial dispositions of the US . . . & of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with them
Thomas Jefferson, Instructions to Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803
President Thomas Jefferson gave Meriwether Lewis detailed instructions for the expedition. While its primary mission was to explore waterways for a route to the Pacific Ocean, commerce with inhabitants of the region was a major goal. Jefferson specified the kinds of information Lewis should obtain about any American Indian nations he might encounter.
The commerce which may be carried on with the people inhabiting the line you will pursue, renders a knolege [sic] of those people important. You will therefore endeavor to make yourself acquainted . . . with the names of the nations & their numbers; . . . their possessions; their relations . . . ; language, traditions, monuments; . . . occupations . . . ; food, clothing, & domestic accommodations; . . . diseases . . . , & . . . remedies . . . ; . . . their laws, customs . . . ; and articles of commerce they may need or furnish & to what extent.
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
