Louisiana Purchase and Undaunted Courage

In this long boring essay i will be talking about a subject that I have gone over every single year of my life. We as children have been told this historical event nearly a thousand times. I have never been this disappointed in my life to write an essay. My book that i am forced to write about is called Undaunted Courage. This book is about the journey of Lewis and Clark and how the journey was portrayed by multiple views. In the book it talks about how if the the early United States had not purchased the land from Spain before entering the territory and exploring without their consent.

The problem with exploring without purchasing the land first is that it may have started an all out war with Spain versus the United States. The US had just finished a war with the Britsh and their supplies are slim to none right now. The Spanish also had a very strong navy that could obliterate the US if the fight ever went off land. The americas were still in the process of rebuilding the country after the war. They did not have the money or the men to start to rebuild their military.

While reading i had discovered the good and bad sides of Meriwether lewis that i had no idea had existed. Lewis established trade throughout the Louisiana Purchase. He had encountered many problems including hostile natives and language barriers.. Now to start with the bad side of Lewis. Lewis had slaves on his mother’s plantation. He planned to come home after the expedition to oversee all of his slaves. He would have been against the abolishment of slavery. Lewis was a very bad man the deeper you dig into his past and then into his views and values. Lewis was also given a massive amount of land after he had got home from the expedition. This land was used as compensation of the many things that he had found. This also stood for the men that he had lost and all of the troubles and near death experiences that he had encountered throughout the entire expedition.

During the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase Lewis encountered a language barrier. If it was not for a native woman then Lewis may have not lived to see the west coast. Lewis met a young lady named Pocahontas that could translate english into her native language. She accompanied the men on the trip and was a very important part of the team. Many of the tribes could have killed the men but she was able to calm them down and speak to them about what was going on. She can possibly be one of the most important historical women in the world. After the historical expedition was over. She meet an englishman that married her then took her back to England with him.

What does Lewis’s suicide leave the living—both in his own time and ours?Discuss the apparent irony of a man who has endured the hardships, terrors, and rigors of a cross-country expedition, returning a hero, only to commit suicide later? This man came back from the trip with severe depression. Lewis overshadowed Clark and that made him mad. There are conspiracy theory that Clark killed Lewis out of jealousy. The constant fear of death can take a toll on someone and that could have been what happened to Lewis after he had got home. He left behind a huge legacy and a lot of family land. His plantation fell apart.

In conclusion I hope that it did not put you to sleep. This essay was for sure the most boring thing that I have ever had to do in my whole entire life. The fact is that i have been told this same story nearly a thousand times. I honestly wished I liked history as much as you do. I would have enjoyed it more if that was true. I truly hope that this is the last time that I have to do an essay on the Louisiana Purchase. Have a great day and I hope my sarcasm made your week. Happy Thanksgiving.

Bibliography

1. Stephen E. Ambrose, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, Undaunted Courage, New York, 1996, 380-381.

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