In Washington City, President Jefferson signs the bill authorizing what would become known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He writes letters to Dr. Benjamin Rush and Caspar Wistar asking them to help Lewis. Also on this day, Lewis is issued a British passport.
Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
by Charles Willson Peale (1818)
Oil on canvas. Courtesy Independence National Historic Park.
Jefferson to Benjamin Rush
Washington, Feb. 28. 1803
Dear Sir
Capt. Lewis is brave, prudent, habituated to the woods, & familiar with Indian manners & character. He is not regularly educated, but he possesses a great mass of accurate observation on all the subjects of nature . . . . He has qualified himself for those observations of longitude & latitude necessary to fix the points of the line he will go over.
Th: Jefferson[1]Jefferson to Benjamin Rush in Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783-1854, 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 18–19.
Jefferson to Caspar Wistar
He [Lewis] will be in Philadelphia within two or three weeks & will call on you. Any advice or hints you can give him will be thankfully received & usefully applied.
Th: Jefferson.[2]Jefferson to Caspar Wistar in Jackson, 17–18.
Lewis’s British Passport
The undersigned, chargé d’affaires of his British Majesty in the United States of America, &c, certifies to all whom these presents shall come, that the bearer, Captain Merriwether Lewis . . . is sent . . . to explore the headwaters and shores of the Missoury and the western parts of the North American continent . . . .
[H]e carries with him no merchandise other than that which is necessary to assure a favorable reception among the native tribes, and to advance the scientific and literary objects of his voyage.
I therefore pray all to whom these presents shall come . . . not only permit the said Captain Lewis to pass without hindrance or impediment whatsoever, but also to render him all the aid and all the protection which shall depend on them . . . .
Given at the city of Washington the 28th of February 1803.
Edwd. Thornton.[3]Jackson, 19–20.
Notes
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Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).