The original Corps of Discovery

the 1804 Lewis and Clark Expedition

In 1803 the young United States purchased a vast expanse of land that France had previously claimed as its own. It stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west; from New Orleans in the south to the Canadian border in the north. With the purchase the United States nearly doubled in size and positioned itself to eventually become an important player in world affairs.

Yet little was known about this land so in 1803 President Thomas Jefferson called upon Congress to fund an expedition to explore what would be called the “Louisiana Purchase”. The expedition was to learn as much as possible about this new land but it was specifically ordered to search for a short-cut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; a trade route by water referred to as the “Northwest Passage” which explorers had spent years searching for.

The expedition became a scientific mission of exploration and discovery into what was then a vast unknown frontier. The expedition’s success relied on its understanding and skills in the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or what we refer to today as STEM.

The expedition called itself the “Corps of Discovery” (Corps is pronounced “core”) and it still stands today as one of America’s greatest expeditions of exploration and discovery.

Watch these two short video clips from the Ken Burns documentary “Lewis and Clark – The Journey of the Corps of Discovery” for an introduction to the expedition, the concerns of its members and their remarkable accomplishments and discoveries.