Lectures curated around >Ken Burns: Lewis & Clark, a film about the exploration of America's uncharted West.

On February 28, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson won approval from Congress to fund a small expeditionary group, whose mission was to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson called the group the Corps of Discovery. It would be led by Jefferson’s secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Lewis’ friend,William Clark. The expedition's goal as stated by President Jefferson was "to explore the Missouri River and such principal stream of it as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river that may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purpose of commerce". In addition, the expedition was to learn more about the Northwest's natural resources, inhabitants, and possibilities for settlement. Although Lewis and Clark were not the first explorers to travel west and they did not achieve their primary objective of finding a waterway across North America, the expedition laid much of the groundwork for the westward expansion of the United States