{"id":2477,"date":"2012-05-23T09:03:22","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T13:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=2477"},"modified":"2012-06-03T13:46:22","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T17:46:22","slug":"meriwether-lewis-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/meriwether-lewis-in-philadelphia\/","title":{"rendered":"Meriwether Lewis in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Captain Meriwether Lewis, by Charles Willson Peale, 1807.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This time, Thomas Jefferson wasn\u2019t messing around. As POTUS (President of the United States) and<\/em> POTAPS (President of the American Philosophical Society) in 1803, Jefferson now had the power, the intelligence and the allies to mount a secret mission<\/a>and finally discover\u2014if one existed\u2014a water route across the American continent. All he needed was \u201can intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enterprise\u201d to \u201cexplore the Missouri river\u2026 it’s course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean.\u201d\u00a0 Along the way, of course, they\u2019d gather all kinds of information that would prove useful and valuable to the new nation.<\/p>\n

Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis for the venture and instructed him to prepare an expedition to the Mississippi River, up the Missouri River and into the uncharted beyond. \u201cYou will take careful observations of latitude & longitude, at all remarkeable points;\u201d Jefferson wrote Lewis<\/a>, you will observe and even collect flora and fauna along the way. And you will \u201cendeavor to make yourself acquainted\u2026with the people inhabiting the line you will pursue.\u201d Learn everything <\/em>about them: \u201cthe names of the nations & their numbers; the extent & limits of their possessions; their relations with other tribes of nations; their language, traditions, monuments; their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts, & the implements for these.\u201d\u00a0 Lewis was to keep a keen eye for \u201carticles of commerce they may need or furnish, & to what extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President had an expedition in mind here much more ambitious than a search for the North West Passage. A successful Lewis would return with enough new information to publish a veritable Encyclopedia Americana. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>In order to prepare, Jefferson sent Lewis to Philadelphia to be tutored by the President\u2019s colleagues at the American Philosophical Society: botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, geographer Robert Patterson, anatomist Caspar Wistar and physician Benjamin Rush. Jefferson had given Rush a heads up<\/a> that Lewis was on his way and urged him \u201cto prepare some notes of such particulars as may occur in his journey & which you think should draw his attention & enquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n

While in Philadelphia, Lewis outfitted for the expedition. With the help of Israel Whelan, who served as a guide through scores of specialty shops, Lewis went on a shopping spree<\/a>\u00a0the likes of which had never been seen before or since. Lewis\u00a0spent more than $2,100 on everything from \u201ccalico ruffled shirts\u201d and \u201cstrong wine\u201d to \u201ctomahawks\u201d and \u201cjews harps.\u201d From Thomas Parker, 31 South Third Street he bought a gold chronometer; from Thomas Leiper’s, 726 Market Street, he bought 63 pounds of \u201cpigtail tobacco.\u201d At Fran\u00e7ois Baillet’s, 21 N. 9th, Lewis bought 193 pounds of \u201cportable soup;\u201d in Christian H. Denchla’s, 114 North Third, Lewis scooped up 73 dozen \u201ccolored beads, small mirrors, burning glasses, pin cases, earrings, tapes and ribbons, tassels and small bells\u201d\u2014gifts for Native Americans. Of the 27 Philadelphia shops Whelan and Lewis visited more than 200 years ago, not one remains intact<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On June 10, 1803, a Conestoga wagon packed with Lewis’ 3,500-pound haul trundled across the floating bridge<\/a> at Gray\u2019s Ferry for points west. \u00a0And nine days later, Lewis had made his way back to Washington, D.C. and wrote his old friend William Clark, informing him of the still secret mission, and proposed that Clark share equally in its leadership. \u201cPresident Thomas Jefferson and the congress of the United States wish to explore the western rivers which may run all the way across North America to the western ocean, and they have asked me to conduct the passage. The aims are to meet and begin trading with Indian tribes, to discover new plants and animals and to make new maps. My friend, could you join me to lead this enterprise with all its dangers, its fatigues and its honors?\u201d<\/p>\n

Next Time: <\/em><\/strong>Clark\u2019s <\/em><\/strong>Response and more Philadelphia connections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time, Thomas Jefferson wasn\u2019t messing around. As POTUS (President of the United States) and POTAPS (President of the American Philosophical Society) in 1803, Jefferson now had the power, the intelligence and the allies to mount a secret missionand finally discover\u2014if one existed\u2014a water route across the American continent. All he needed was \u201can intelligent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}