Speaker: Trade important to Lewis and Clark Expedition
Dr. Gary Moulton, who is regarded by many to be the foremost scholar on Lewis and Clark, shared his findings about the explorers’ relations with the American Indians they met during their journey to the West Coast. Moulton made his presentation Tuesday to an audience in the Chadron State College Student Center.
Moulton, who edited the 13-volume edition of the “Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition” and has been heavily involved in many national efforts related to the explorers’ journey, noted that he has spent 20 years studying the occurrences of a 2½ year event.
Moulton said that people often emphasize the exploration and adventure aspects of Lewis and Clark’s early 19th century journey, but overlook the mission’s goal of creating commerce. He said President Thomas Jefferson regarded the explorers’ mission as a business trip, and desired to develop amiable relations with American Indians to develop trade relations and distance native people from their past associations with other countries.
Despite Jefferson’s goal of creating peace with the tribes, the President and others in the East believed the Indians were inferior to those of European descent, Moulton said. He said the explorers’ cultural gap and insensitivity toward American Indians was evident in their writings, and that Jefferson and the explorers made a conscious effort to develop a sense of superiority over the tribes. Conversely, he said the Indians were not without prejudice toward the U.S. explorers. One tribesman, he said, opined that only one person among the exploration team was commendable – the one who made tools from metals.
Although the explorers promoted future relations, their results were limited by the fact that they had few items on hand to trade during the journey. Moulton said Lewis and Clark astonished the Indians with firearms as they promoted the idea of “one big peace” on the Plains. That idea, he said, was greeted warmly by small tribes that were oppressed by other groups, but was feared by the groups who were in control.
Moulton’s presentation was an installment of CSC’s Dorset Graves Lecture Series. The series is presenting lectures about Lewis and Clark this spring to coincide with the “Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country” exhibit that is on display in the library through April 18.
The series will present two speakers about Lewis and Clark next week. The first is Dr. James Hanson, who will present “Lewis and Clark Revisited,” on Tuesday, April 1, in the basement of the Reta King Library. The second will be Kira Gale of Omaha, whose topic is “The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis: Murder or Suicide?” Gale’s presentation will be on the second floor of the library at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 6.
Category: Campus News