Format
After presenting a slide show about the expedition, there’ll be time for questions from the audience. Here’s how the program will go:
1. Orientation—life in the early 1800s with no technology—no engines, no telegraph or telephone, no cars or trains.
2. The Louisiana Purchase: The small size of the USA at the time; how the Louisiana Purchase changed everything
3. Thomas Jefferson’s goals: Jefferson hoped for a water route across the continent for trade, agreements with the Indians on trade, and information on the plants, animals, and geography of the land
4. How the expedition proceeded; interesting and surprising events and discoveries along the way
5. Open-ended Q&A about how I researched and wrote the book
Objectives
1. The presentation will bring the Lewis and Clark Expedition alive for students
2. Students will become aware of how very different life was in the early 19th century than it is today
3. Students will acquire a firm understanding of the geography of the U.S. west of the Mississippi River
4. Students will come to understand the mindset of the nation at that time and get a glimpse of the Native American view of European explorers
Standards Alignment
National Standards
U.S. History 5-12 Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861), Science as Inquiry, History and Nature of Science, Geography, Places and regions, Geography/The World in Spatial Terms, Geography/Physical Systems, Geography/Human Systems, English/Reading for Understanding