PATRICK GASS' LETTER

_In 1800 when Thomas Jefferson was elected our third president, the United States of America was only 24 years old and very small. Its western boundary was the Mississippi River. Even the city of St. Louis, which was founded in 1764, was in Spanish territory. But President Jefferson dreamed of expanding the country westward to the Pacific Ocean. In 1803, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France agreed to sell the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Territory to the United States for approximately $15 million dollars (less than 5 cents an acre!). This doubled the size of the United States.

_President Jefferson chose his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead an expedition to explore this territory by following the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Meriwether Lewis chose William Clark as his co-captain and they selected a team of soldiers and interpreters forming the Corps of Discovery. They outfitted in St.  Louis and set out from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. During their 2 1/2 year journey, they studied new animals and plants, mapped the lands they passed through, and made friends with the American Indians. This trunk is based on the journal of Patrick Gass who was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was also the first to publish his journal in 1807 and he was the last member of the expedition to die, in 1870_.

_Divide your class into small groups and give each group one of the items from the trunk. Ask students to work together to analyze the items and their use. Then have your students take turns reading the following story to the class. When he/she gets to an item, (the underlined part in the story, i.e. moccasin) have a representative from that group stand up, show the item, and pass it around. Items should be returned to the trunk after everyone has a chance to touch and look at them closely.

For Teacher's Use
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