December 31, 1806

Speech to the Osage

[31 December 1806]

MY CHILDREN, CHIEFS OF THE OSAGE NATION:

I welcome you sincerely to the seat of the government of the United States. . . . Our dwellings indeed are very far apart, but not too far to carry on commerce and useful intercourse. You have furs and peltries which we want, and we have clothes and other useful things which you want. Let us employ ourselves, then, in making exchanges of these articles useful to both.^[1]Saul K. Padover, The Complete Jefferson: Containing His Major Writings, Published and Unpublished, Except His Letters (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1943), 485–86.

This Osage delegation was primarily organized and led by Pierre Chouteau of St. Louis.

Dinner with Jefferson

New-Year’s day 1807.

My dear Louisa.

I dined yesterday [31 December] at the President’s—Captain Lewis was there; more altered in manners and appearance, from what he was when we saw him before than I ever beheld any man—I did not know him again though I expected to meet him—I must add that his alteration is to my judgment inexpressibly for the better—But he looks fifteen years older—

John Quincy Adams.^[2]John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-1555 accessed 11 January 2026.

Washington Announcements

WASHINGTON CITY.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31

WE have thigh satisfaction of informing our readers of the arrival of Captain MERIWETHER LEWIS at this place; after an absence of nearly three years and a half, which have been exclusively and actively employed in exploring the western country under the direction of the President of the U. S. . . . If we are correctly informed, the information of captain L. will not merely gratify literary curiosity, but open views of great and immediate objects of national utility; and it will be seen that he has rendered very important services to his country.

. . . . .

At a meeting of a number of Citizens of Washington,

ROBERT BRENT, Esquire in the chair,

It was determined to give a public DINNER to Capt. MERIWETHER LEWIS, evincive of the high sense and affectionate esteem they entertain for him.

It was further determined that the Dinner should be given on Saturday, the 10th inst. So remoted a day being fixed that the company might be honored with the presence of capt. Clarke, expected to arrive before that day.

A subscription paper is lodged with Mr. Stelle, to which gentlemen disposed to participate in the entertainment, are desired to affix their names.^[3]Washington Intelligencer, 31 December 1806, page 2.

Despite delaying the dinner until 14 January, “A general regret prevailed at the absence of Capt. Clark, the friend and associate of Capt. Lewis, for whom the Dinner had been delayed for several days.”^[4]Washington Intelligencer, 16 January 1807, page 2.