Lewis and Clark

The 200th anniversary commemorations of the exploration of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark will highlight the portion of their trip from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back. In fact, the journey started in Virginia and finished in Virginia.

George Washington gets most of the credit for recognizing the need to connect the population centers on the Atlantic coastline with the developing settlements in the Ohio and Mississippi River watersheds. It was another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, who recognized the need to send a group of explorers into what was technically Spanish territory. A voyage of discovery to the middle continent and Pacific coast would allow the United States to strengthen its land claims, by right of discovery as well as by right of purchase.

Some in the Virginia gentry, such as Washington and Jefferson, were visionary in their understanding of geopolitical strategy. Others were insular in their perspective. Patrick Henry, for example, was not a warm supporter of the request in 1776 for supplying the Kentucky settlers with gunpowder to defend against raids by Indian allies of the British.

The man making the request? George Rogers Clark, the older brother (by 18 years) of William Clark. He expressed the choice of the frontier settlers effectively - Virginia had to support the settlements if the settlers were to stay loyal. Otherwise, "if a country were not worth protecting, it was not worth claiming." The leaders in the Virginia Convention could expect the Kentucky settlements to separate from Virginia, unless Virginia committed scarce gunpowder to protect the frontier. The Virginia Convention knew British fleets and armies were a far greater threat in the Chesapeake Bay area, but finally agreed that the western settlements were important too..

Lewis and Clark

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