The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   The Corps of Discovery and the Mandan and Hidatsa, 1803 to 1806 (cards A to G). Card A, President Jefferson's written instructions to Captain Meriwether Lewis (dated before June 20, 1803; Library of Congress transcript; spelling as printed): "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 whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce." Card B, the same instructions (as printed): "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 US. of our wish to be neighborly, friendly, & useful to them, & of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with them;" Card C, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: President Jefferson wanted a water route to the Pacific and to affirm American sovereignty in the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. In October 1804 the Corps reached the five earthlodge villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa, whose hospitality let it build Fort Mandan as a winter refuge. Visitors traded corn and wild game for trade goods, and the Mandan and Hidatsa gave information about the land ahead. The Corps left the villages on April 7, 1805 and returned on August 14, 1806. Card D, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: the party that landed at the Mandan village of Mitutanka on October 27, 1804 was very likely the largest group of non-Indians the Mandans had ever seen, but Mandans were used to huge trading bands, so they probably assumed the strangers had come to trade. To the Native people's dismay, the visitors kept going upriver. William Clark wrote that day: "Great numbers on both Sides flocked down to the bank to view us as wee passed." About a week later the Corps returned downstream to build Fort Mandan, where it stayed "the next 161 days", until April 7, 1805. Card E, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: in early November 1804 a French-Canadian trader, Toussaint Charbonneau, who had lived in the villages for years and spoke French and some Hidatsa, offered his own skills and those of Sacagawea, who spoke Hidatsa and Shoshone. The Corps knew, from what Mandan people had told them, that it would need to trade for horses with the Shoshone to cross the Rocky Mountains, and hired both for the journey. Charbonneau, at forty-six, was the oldest member of the permanent party and Sacagawea, at sixteen, the youngest. Sacagawea did not speak French or English: at meetings with Shoshone people her words went in Hidatsa to Charbonneau, then in French to George Drouillard, then in English to Lewis and Clark. Card F, a summary in our words from the National Archives: the Louisiana Purchase ignored its potential impact on Native Americans. The land was home to thousands of American Indians in dozens of tribes. As territories and states were set up and more Americans traveled west, conflict with Native peoples grew, and Native people were ultimately forced onto reservations, losing vast areas of tribal land. Card G, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: a photo at the reconstructed Fort Mandan near Washburn, North Dakota, shows an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation giving a presentation. Two of the five earthlodge villages the Corps visited are today at a National Park Service historic site in North Dakota.

2. 1.

   Card A is President Jefferson's written order to Lewis before the trip. What is it best evidence for, Noah asks?

   • What the President wanted the mission to find out, and why, before it began
   • How the Mandan and Hidatsa judged the mission when it arrived at their villages
   • What historians now say the mission achieved for the country and for science
   • What the Corps actually found on its journey west to the Pacific and back
3. 2.

   Card B tells Lewis to stress "peaceable & commercial dispositions" to Native nations. How does Jefferson's purpose shape that wording, Ari asks?

   • It records what Native nations asked the United States for before the trip began
   • It orders Lewis to avoid trade with Native nations until the treaty is ratified
   • It promises Native nations they will keep their homelands for good under the treaty
   • It links friendly treatment to trade and security, as card A stresses commerce
4. 3.

   Card B is Jefferson's plan for meetings with Native nations, and card D reports a real meeting. How do they differ, Luz asks?

   • Both cards show the Mandans agreed to American authority and promised to follow its laws
   • Card D says the Mandans refused to trade with the Corps and wanted it to leave quickly
   • Card B shows the Mandans' hopes for trade, and card D shows Jefferson's plans for the trip
   • Card B states hopes of friendship and trade; card D shows the Mandans took them for traders
5. 4.

   Card C tells of Mandan and Hidatsa advice; card E tells of Sacagawea. What do they support together, Tala asks?

   • That the Corps relied on Native knowledge, here for language and the route west
   • That Sacagawea spoke English and French as well as Shoshone, so no one else interpreted
   • That Sacagawea hired the Corps as her guides at the Mandan villages in 1804
   • That Sacagawea led the Corps the whole way from St. Louis to the Pacific coast and back
6. 5.

   A student writes: "The expedition succeeded without help from Native nations." How strong is that claim, given cards C, D and E, Jun asks?

   • Weak: cards C and E show Mandan and Hidatsa hospitality, information and an interpreter
   • Strong: card A says the aim was just to map rivers, so no help from anyone was needed
   • Strong: card D says the Mandans attacked the Corps at its winter camp and drove it off
   • Strong: card B tells Lewis to be friendly, so help from Native nations was not needed
7. 6.

   Which chain from cards C and E best explains how the Corps could talk with Shoshone people, Pia asks?

   • The Corps hired Sacagawea first, and then later the Mandans told it about horses
   • Mandan people said horses came from the Shoshone, so the Corps hired two interpreters
   • Charbonneau spoke English well, so one interpreter was enough for the whole trip west
   • Sacagawea's relatives gave the Corps horses, which is why it hired her in the first place
8. 7.

   Card D says the Corps stayed "the next 161 days" until April 7, 1805, after an October 27 arrival. What does counting back show, Bo asks?

   • The count starts about October 28, the day after arrival, not from building the fort
   • Counting forward from April 7 reaches mid-September, so the card's count must be wrong
   • The Corps stayed 161 days after it finished building the fort, which took about a week
   • The card is useless, since a fort cannot be built in a week or two of work
9. 8.

   A student says: "Mandan and Hidatsa people welcomed the Corps because they accepted American rule." How strong is that claim, given cards C and D, Zee asks?

   • Strong: card B says Lewis would explain the United States' position, so they accepted it
   • Weak: card D says the Mandans drove the Corps away from their villages in the winter
   • Weak: the cards show hospitality and trade, and the Mandans took the party for traders
   • Strong: card C says the Corps wintered at Fort Mandan, so the Mandans accepted its rule
10. 9.

    Which source would best show how Mandan and Hidatsa people understood the Corps' visit, Ren asks?

    • A twentieth-century textbook chapter on reservations and the removal of tribes
    • A modern park summary like cards C and D, written for visitors to the site
    • Jefferson's instructions to Lewis, written before the trip began in 1803
    • Mandan and Hidatsa oral histories and accounts told by their own people
11. 10.

    Card G describes a present-day presentation at Fort Mandan by a nation's member. What does it best support, Esme asks?

    • That each Mandan descendant works at the fort as a presenter or as a guide
    • That the presenter was a member of the Corps of Discovery who stayed at the fort
    • That Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people are present today and present at the site
    • That the nations ended after the Corps visited, and that their people are gone today