XVIII. XVIII
JEFFERSON'S INSTRUCTIONS TO LEWIS[1]
XVIII. [From original MS. in Bureau of Rolls—Jefferson Papers, series 1, vol. 9, doc. 269.]
To Meriwether Lewis, esquire, Captain of the Ist. regiment of infantry
of the United States of America: Your situation as Secretary of the President
of the United States has made you acquainted with the objects of
my confidential message of Jan. 18, 1803, to the legislature. you have
seen the act they passed, which, tho' expressed in general terms, was
meant to sanction those objects, and you are appointed to carry them
into execution.
Instruments for ascertaining by celestial observations the geography
of the country thro' which you will pass, have already been provided.
light articles for barter, & presents among the Indians, arms for your
attendants, say for from 10 to 12 men, boats, tents, & other travelling
apparatus, with ammunition, medicine, surgical instruments & provisions
you will have prepared with such aids as the Secretary at War can yield
in his department; & from him also you will recieve authority to engage
among our troops, by voluntary agreement, the number of attendants
above mentioned, over whom you, as their commanding officer are invested
with all the powers the laws give in such a case.
As your movements while within the limits of the U. S. will be better
directed by occasional communications, adapted to circumstances as they
arise, they will not be noticed here. what follows will respect your proceedings
after your departure from the U. S.
Your mission has been communicated to the Ministers here from
France, Spain & Great Britain, and through them to their governments:
and such assurances given them as to it's objects as we trust will satisfy
them. the country of Louisiana having been ceded by Spain to France,
the passport you have from the Minister of France, the representative
of the present sovereign of the country, will be a protection with all it's
subjects: And that from the Minister of England will entitle you to the
friendly aid of any traders of that allegiance with whom you may happen
to meet.
The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such
principal stream of it, as, by it's course & communication with the waters
of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct & practicable water communication
across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.
Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations
of latitude & longitude, at all remarkable points on the river, & especially
at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands & other places & objects
distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as
that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter. the courses of
the river between these points of observation may be supplied by the
compass, the log-line & by time, corrected by the observations themselves.
the variations of the compass too, in different places, should be
noticed.
The interesting points of the portage between the heads of the Missouri
& the water offering the best communication with the Pacific
Ocean should also be fixed by observation, & the course of that water
to the ocean, in the same manner as that of the Missouri.
Your observations are to be taken with great pains & accuracy, to be
entered distinctly, & intelligibly for others as well as yourself, to comprehend
all the elements necessary, with the aid of the usual tables, to
fix the latitude and longitude of the places at which they were taken, &
are to be rendered to the war office, for the purpose of having the calculations
made concurrently by proper persons within the U. S. several
copies of these, as well as your other notes, should be made at leisure
times & put into the care of the most trustworthy of your attendants, to
guard by multiplying them, against the accidental losses to which they
will be exposed. a further guard would be that one of these copies be
written on the paper of the birch, as less liable to injury from damp
than common paper.
The commerce which may be carried on with the people inhabiting
the line you will pursue, renders a knolege of these people important.
you will therefore endeavor to make yourself acquainted, as far as a diligent
pursuit of your journey shall admit,
with the names of the nations & their numbers;
the extent & limits of their possessions;
their relations with other tribes or nations;
their language, traditions, monuments;
their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war,
arts, & the implements for these;
their food, clothing, & domestic accomodations;
the diseases prevalent among them, & the remedies they use;
moral & physical circumstances which distinguish them from the
tribes we know;
peculiarities in their laws, customs & dispositions;
and articles of commerce they may need or furnish, & to what
extent.
And considering the interest which every nation has in extending &
strengthening the authority of reason & justice among the people around
them, it will be useful to acquire what knolege you can of the state of
morality, religion & information among them, as it may better enable
those who endeavor to civilize & instruct them, to adapt their measures
to the existing notions & practises of those on whom they are to
operate.
Other object worthy of notice will be
the soil & face of the country, it's growth & vegetable productions;
especially those not of the U. S.
the animals of the country generally, & especially those not
known in the U. S.
the remains and accounts of any which may deemed rare or
extinct;
the mineral productions of every kind; but more particularly
metals, limestone, pit coal & saltpetre; salines & mineral
waters, noting the temperature of the last, & such circumstances
as may indicate their character.
Volcanic appearances.
climate as characterized by the thermometer, by the proportion of
rainy, cloudy & clear days, by lightening, hail, snow, ice, by
the access & recess of frost, by the winds prevailing at different
seasons, the dates at which particular plants put forth or
lose their flowers, or leaf, times of appearance of particular
birds, reptiles or insects.
Altho' your route will be along the channel of the Missouri, yet you
will endeavor to inform yourself, by inquiry, of the character & extent of
the country watered by it's branches, & especially on it's Southern side.
the North river or Rio Bravo which runs into the gulph of Mexico, and the
North river, or Rio colorado, which runs into the gulph of California,
are understood to be the principal streams heading opposite to the waters
of the Missouri, and running Southwardly. whether the dividing grounds
between the Missouri & them are mountains or flatlands, what are their
distance from the Missouri, the character of the intermediate country, &
the people inhabiting it, are worthy of particular enquiry. The Northern
waters of the Missouri are less to be enquired after, because they
have been ascertained to a considerable degree, and are still in a course
of ascertainment by English traders & travellers. but if you can learn
anything certain of the most Northern source of the Missisipi, & of it's
position relative to the lake of the woods, it will be interesting to us.
some account too of the path of the Canadian traders from the Missisipi,
at the mouth of the Ouisconsin river, to where it strikes the Missouri
and of the soil & rivers in it's course, is desireable.
In all your intercourse with the natives treat them in the most friendly
& conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit; allay all
jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy them of it's innocence,
make them acquainted with the position, extent, character, peaceable
& commercial dispositions of the U. S. of our wish to be neighborly,
friendly & useful to them, & of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse
with them; confer with them on the points most convenient as
mutual emporiums, & the articles of most desireable interchange for them
& us. if a few of their influential chiefs, within practicable distance,
wish to visit us, arrange such a visit with them, and furnish them with
authority to call on our officers, on their entering the U. S. to have
them conveyed to this place at public expence. if any of them should
wish to have some of their young people brought up with us, & taught
such arts as may be useful to them, we will receive, instruct & take care
of them. such a mission, whether of influential chiefs, or of young
people, would give some security to your own party. carry with you
some matter of the kine-pox, inform those of them with whom you
may be of it' efficacy as a preservative from the small-pox; and instruct
& incourage them in the use of it. this may be especially done wherever
you winter.
As it is impossible for us to foresee in what manner you will be
recieved by those people, whether with hospitality or hostility, so is it
impossible to prescribe the exact degree of perseverance with which you
are to pursue your journey. we value too much the lives of citizens to
offer them to probably destruction. your numbers will be sufficient to
secure you against the unauthorised opposition of individuals, or of
small parties: but if a superior force, authorised or not authorised. by a
nation, should be arrayed against your further passage, & inflexibly determined
to arrest it, you must decline it's further pursuit, and return.
in the loss of yourselves, we should lose also the information you will
have acquired. by returning safely with that, you may enable us to
renew the essay with better calculated means. to your own discretion
therefore must be left the degree of danger you may risk, & the point at
which you should decline, only saying we wish you to err on the side
of your safety, & bring back your party safe, even if it be with less
information.
As far up the Missouri as the white settlements extend, an intercourse
will probably be found to exist between them and the Spanish posts at
St. Louis, opposite Cahokia, or Ste. Genevieve opposite Kaskaskia.
from still farther up the river, the traders may furnish a conveyance for
letters. beyond that you may perhaps be able to engage Indians to bring
letters for the government to Cahokia or Kaskaskia, on promising that
they shall there receive such special compensation as you shall have
stipulated with them. avail yourself of these means to communicate to
us, at seasonable intervals, a copy of your journal, notes & observations
of every kind, putting into cypher whatever might do injury if betrayed.
Should you reach the Pacific ocean [One full line scratched out,
indecipherable.—Ed.] inform yourself of the circumstances which may
decide whether the furs of those parts may not be collected as advantageously
at the head of the Missouri (convenient as is supposed to the
waters of the Colorado & Oregon or Columbia) as at Nootka sound or
any other point of that coast; & that trade be consequently conducted
through the Missouri & U. S. more beneficially than by the circumnavigation
now practised.
On your arrival on that coast endeavor to learn if there be any port
within your reach frequented by the sea-vessels of any nation, and to
send two of your trusty people back by sea, in such way as shall appear
practicable, with a copy of your notes. and should you be of opinion
that the return of your party by the way they went will be eminently
dangerous, then ship the whole, & return by sea by way of Cape Horn
or the Cape of good Hope, as you shall be able. as you will be without
money, clothes or provisions, you must endeavor to use the credit of the
U. S. to obtain them; for which purpose open letters of credit shall be
furnished you authorising you to draw on the Executive of the U. S. or
any of its officers in any part of the world, on which drafts can be disposed
of, and to apply with our recommendations to the Consuls, agents,
merchants or citizens of any nation with which we have intercourse,
assuring them in our name that any aids they may furnish you, shall
honorably repaid, and on demand. Our consuls Thomas Howes at
Batavia in Java, William Buchanan of the isles of France and Bourbon,
& John Elmslie at the Cape of good hope will be able to supply your
necessities by draughts on us.
Should you find it safe to return by the way you go, after sending two
of your party round by sea, or with your whole party, if no conveyance
by sea can be found, do so; making such observations on your return as
may serve to supply, correct or confirm those made on your outward
journey.
In re-entering the U. S. and reaching a place of safety, discharge any
of your attendants who may desire & deserve it, procuring for them
immediate paiment of all arrears of pay & cloathing which may have
incurred since their departure; & assure them that they shall be recommended
to the liberality of the legislature for the grant of a soldier's
portion of land each, as proposed in my message to Congress & repair
yourself with your papers to the seat of government.
To provide, on the accident of your death, against anarchy, dispersion
& the consequent danger to your party, and total failure of the enterprise,
you are hereby authorised, by any instrument signed & written in
your hand, to name the person among them who shall succeed to the
command on your decease, & by like instruments to change the nomination
from time to time, as further experience of the characters accompanying
you shall point out superior fitness: and all the powers &
authorities given to yourself are, in the event of your death, transferred
to & vested in the successor so named, with further power to him, &
his successors in like manner to name each his successor, who, on the
death of his predecessor, shall be invested with all the powers &
authorities given to yourself.
Given under my hand at the city of Washington, this 20th. day of
June 1803
Th. Jefferson
Pr. U S. of America
