On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson requested congressional appropriations for an expedition to extend “the external commerce of the U.S.” Noting that another country had a flourishing fur trade with Native Americans to the north, he stressed the need to find a route to the Pacific and establish trade relationships with western tribes.
Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives and Records Administration
President Thomas Jefferson’s confidential message to Congress on western exploration, January 18, 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
On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson requested congressional appropriations for an expedition to extend “the external commerce of the U.S.” Noting that another country had a flourishing fur trade with Native Americans to the north, he stressed the need to find a route to the Pacific and establish trade relationships with western tribes.
Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives and Records Administration
