Differing in personality, the moody Lewis and solid Clark made a compatible team.įrom the outset, the Lewis and Clark expedition seemed destined to enjoy a better fate than its predecessors.
Although less well-educated than Lewis, Clark was an astute observer in his own right and if his prose was less polished, he was a more conscientious diarist and a very capable cartographer. Lewis was allowed to select his second in command, an old army friend, William Clark, with whom he had served in the Northwest Territory.
Lewis was not the worldly savant that Jefferson was, but he was well-read, scientifically versed, wrote beautiful prose, and was experienced in wilderness life. To lead his expedition, Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, a political ally, fellow Virginian, and a rejected applicant (at the tender age of 19) for the Michaux expedition. But in 1801, Jefferson dusted off the basic plan he had devised for Michaux, and once again, prepared to send an exploring party to the west. As a Congressman in 1783, he had failed to convince George Rogers Clark to explore the west, and in 1793, his plans for André Michaux fell prey to international political machinations, and several other attempts had failed at even earlier stages. When Thomas Jefferson acceded to the Presidency in 1801, one of his great unfulfilled wishes was to see a proper scientific expedition carried overland to the Pacific.
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