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The
inhabitants of the ceded territory [Louisiana Territory]
shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States
and admitted as soon as possible according to the
principles of the federal Constitution to the enjoyment
of all these rights, advantages and immunities of
citizens of the United States, and in the mean time they
shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment
of their liberty, property and the Religion which they
profess.
–Article III, Louisiana Purchase Treaty,
April 30, 1803
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri
river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course
and 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 remarkeable
points on the river, & especially at the mouths of
rivers . . . & other places & objects . . ."
"The commerce which may be carried on with the people
inhabiting the line you will pursue, rendrs a knolege of
those people important. You will therefore endeavor to
make yourself acquainted . . . with the 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 . . . and the implements for these;
the diseases prevalent among them, & the remedies they
use; moral & physical circumstances . . . peculiarities
in their laws, customs & dispositions, and articles of
commerce they may need or furnish . . . . . . the state
of morality religion, & information among them;" "Some
account too of the path of the Canadian traders from the
Missisipi . . . In all your intercourse with the
natives, treat them in the most friendly & conciliatory
manner which their own conduct will admit . . ."
– President Jefferson's Instructions to Captain
Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803 |
