to army explorers in so as i told you all last time we' up to this point. this lecture isind of thematic

topic. so we're going to start right off talking about on monday, but we're going to jump the way throtous-mexico war and the civil war. and so a lot of the topics we're today, they're also going to come up in our future lectures. feel slightly unmoored when it comes to what time we're in, i'moing to do my best to signpost, but just flag me down. you're like, we've today because it's a more of a thematic topic. but what i really want us to get out of t deeper insight into this question. we've been t is once you have an empire how you exertnt it and how is the new us federal government, which sn monday, going to control the interior kind of biggest problem. so we'll start here. adam smith, pretty famous dude economis right around 1776 just as the to draft that declaration of independence. that's going to set them to war with great britain. he writes this about the united states from shopkeepers tradesmen and attorneys. they are becoming statesmen and legislators and are employed and

contriving a new form of government, an extensive empire which they flatter themselves, seems very likely to become one of the greatest a was in the world. so smith is looking at the us from across the ocean andthey've got everything they need to be a great empire. if theyng off and i'm part of of government, this democracy, and that takes back to frederick jackson. turner right. we talked this our second day of class. the idea the frontier and empire is tied to that democratic expanse. and so this is the kind of thing that washington and jefferson 're not afraid of empire and they're going to forward. i said to william henry seward g to cover the 1776 to right up to the civil war william henry seward, of course, famous, a man who wanted to be president, perhaps as much as only one or two other dudes country history, maybe only second to henry clay and how bad he wantedpresident william henry seward. this in a speech to congress in 1856 to obtain an empire is and

common so of empires in the world. but he said to govern itdifficult rare indeed. and much than what we've been talking about by which the united states ha acquired essentially everything, including the gadsase, that will become part of the modern u.s. and pointing to the same problem that. adam smith alluded to undertake. you have to find a way to control this territory and. you have to do it in a way that's fair and we talked about that tension last right. the washington andinto people who go to the frontier do not want intervention in their lives especially from government but theov that controls the frontier. so this is the kind of territory we'ree united states, 1783, when it's onlylittle bit in green, there's a lot of e this land out here that they don't have access to yet and someone's goin that knowledge. william henry seward, of course, most people remember him right from your ap us history bottle asker and then got made fun of for the of his life.

seward's folly right so he was deeply invested in the idea ofexpansion, very famous paintingght weempire takes its wayit stands in the house of representas tive building. it's a massive fresco, 20 foot long fresco in the house of representatives, painted by emanuel. lutz wanted. this painting to demonstrate the kind of principal characters involved in america's westward. as he understood up to 1863. and it's in frederick jackson turner talks about right the buffalo, the indian, the fur the pioneer. these are the settlers of the missing from this painting. what kind of character archetype. can. like that? like a like a general type a so a military officer, is that what

an or statesman, like anybody who iskeep, like social norms in right? but i don't think bureaucrats areop soldiers certainly are. and they're missing and if you look at john or you look at guests, sort of famous painting of manifest destiny american right, with the woman strainires across the plains. also no soldiers in that painting. it'ssoldiers are left out here when they're aimperial. but just note that jackson turner also doesn't list the army soldiers. and so 'inting is first ever hangs in the us capitol to feature an see him there down along bottom between the horse and the cow the young african-american boy there. so the first black individual to be portrayed in a painting in the capitol building. so it's really it's a progressive painting in many ways, but it's also missing why the army

there? what is let's gast? i mean, anyone who's thinking about how the americans are going to onto the frontier. well the best institution do it and the most equipped in terms of having organization being well ndav knowledge undertake this process is the united problem is. nobody likes the army because ies are not really in concordance with the values of the new and young unitedthe united states is facing as it drafts the constitution massive over whether or not the country should have an army at all and many think that it's dangerous because standing can get angry and upset. and if you get somebody in charge of them who's not like, a julius caesar or an oliver cromwell, a napoleon, theyight over your democracy. and that's not what you want to . is in this really interesting position and they have a subdue. as we talked about last threats really, really powerful native american confederacy's that are

much moreitarily equipped than the new united states. but they don't want to have a so they're going to do some very interesting things with within america's democratic system and our system of government. so to justify having an army at all needed a job, especially when the nation was nott war and the us isn't at war most of the time. so the soldiers something to do so that if there is a crisis or the least a small army ready to train and equip theyears that you'll draw from the militia. but you don't want too ready to go toso they settle on it's really interesting. the 19th century army and war is army of exploration. they fight a few warmight about, but in reality even when they are fighting wars, they are talking about scientific expeditions and a great and so the principal institution for soldiers along thiic

method is west pointded by thomas jefferson in 1802. he creates the point on the banks of the hudson rivern yo of course, the most notorious of the early presidents hating the national military. he did write many letters about trying to get rid of the military altogether. and then when he finally sat said, no we really do need them in case we go to war, but let's keep them trained and by the federal golet's make sure that we keep them under control. and so they didn't want to have to rely foreigners as they had during theution they're also drawing this lesson forward in the usagainst great britain. a lot of the military engineering, a lot of the heaviest kind work to actually build fortifications and protect the army had been done by so jefferson says, why don't we create an institution that is able tocan men to do same job in a verydardized way so jefferson military academy henry adams is

one of the many sort american adams is doubled the capacity of the little american army for resistance and introduce the new and scientific character into american life. i always like to here. west point is a wonderful. un he founded a much better university called the5i second best university founded .rs not a competition, but it is. and here we interesting between the two instit jefferson wants them to be scientific in their character jefferson i in imparting religious education. right many of our early universitysters places harvard and yale divinity s science, wants knowledge. he wants humanistic pursuits. and so a young man who goes to west point becomes one of the best trained engineers in the country at this course. they do science, they do languages they do literature. they do watercolor, they do horsemanship. what haven't i mentioned?

theyil their fifth year right? it's four years of well-rounded scientific education and, then a fifth year where you actua to be a soldier just in case it might come. but in reality trained as engineers. and so if you wanted to an engineer, you wanted to go west point and then at west point, if you really distinguish yourself, you would not be put in infantry or the artillery regim army. you'd be put in the engineering corps, which was far the most prestigi arm of the american army in this pthey have a portrait of thomas jefferson hanging there, which i think would make thomas jefferson smile as he really distrusted the military. yeah. was there a question? excellent. please shut them up. erson. at the same time, he creates west point, creates a military peace. so this is their compromise. they have to put in place protection to make sure that the army does not become a threat to the federal government and in that act, that establishes west point jefferson also directs a corps of engineers be

established as of the united states army to train loyal expe engineers and so th to employ engineers from those foreign lands. and this is army engineers to this day. so if you see soldier with this patch, his uniform, he is an engineers have been and america's military missions, whether in time ofxz war, in time of peace, army engineers, i'm going to talk about exploring today, but they also build bridges reroute ey and platte. they basically makeblic possible because they are the best trained and so the army is responsible for a lot the development that we see even on the east coast, which is not the subjectt of our cigss, but also on the frontier. and so if you ever drive across or a ford, a river anywhere in the west, youprobably count on the fact that the army got there first and built whatever original fortification was. they build lotseen in texas

with the name fort in the title, that's our neighboring city so what really kicks off the age of army exploration, you have this corps of trained guys. they were really good at science, really good at engineering. even talked about george washington as much as he was soldier. he was also a surveyor. things kind of go hand in hand. well, thomas jefferson. and he the idea for west point and the idea for thisalso is talking to a little guy no offense named napoleon about this. louisa can a territory that exists to the west of the limitsof american expansion right to the west of the mississippi river. remember we'd had that proclamation line of 1763 and the americans very quickly been like, yeah, we're going past by this point. they reached the mississippi saint louis is becoming a prominent river town. remember that at end he revolution, the british and, the americans ag unimpeded of the mississippi. they would share that r.ri other side and france is in possessiondz. this territory of louisiana

which basically hugs the mississippi from its headwaters in minnesota to where it discharges in the gulf of mexico, at the city of, new orleans and france wants to get rid down in a series of wars. continent. france doesn't have the or capacity to continue to administer. louisiana. and so they say to thomas, you want some land? and jefferson says, absolutely, i would love some land. there could be a lot of good stuff out there that this new country could use. there could be a lot of really interesting to be gained from going and exploring this place. all louisiana territory, you, napoleon and all ad 828,000 square miles ofthe united states doubling in in one sort of purchase the entire extent of the country including a little bit of part

of canada that got settledand and mayben right. as i've already told you all, is truly going touisiana purchase included florida, spain and really think. so andrew jackson's going to go ahead and go take florida in 18 teens in what becomes known as going hang in the balance but jefferson thinkse' important for a number of reasons, my because of its access to the caribbean. so napoleon, us, lterritory per the revolution in is his mind his new world a collapsing and he decides to offload this territory. and so jefferson now has a question to answer. wh get when he bought th of the united states knorl important it's, ofmbcity. but they went ahead and did it. so we have to work with what wegot. they know new orleans is important and vital the entire mississippi become a trade artery that is and.

jefferson also knows there's a tributary of the mississippi called the missouri river that is, in fact, important. and prospects sort of right, for the new united states. and so he especially wants that tributary explored and do it. that's headed by not professional explorers. we're going to talk about who are not professionally trained west the and end of the lecture. but they are military veterans. they have militia ranks they're going to run the corps of like a and here's what jefferson is going tout. yeah, that's going to last on theyou okay? so thomas jefferson, h florida is that it was did everyone know that we coown going into florida even though it really wasn't ours ayeah, we absolutely. there are planters that are also haven for runaway become maroons amongst seminoles. so we have a vested interest i.so

when it's absorbed into the u.s. how french people are living there at that time in louisiana, that's a good i don't know the exact num not a ton. france really administered these as kind of trading colonies, so they wou had sort of french explorers and they would have been allowed to kind of stay and continue explore. they just be absorbed into the u.s. and become american not quite not in the same way that when we talk about the treaty of guad hidalgo not in the same way that that hispanic people living in the american citizenship conferred onlouisiana purchase. and again, i think that' numbers dealing with. of course, they also don't confer citizenship on ths native people that are going to kind of run into lewis and clark as move but because of the great lakes and of the french access to canada, they french and they the trade anyway important florida's a great question yeah so so they they wantring it in and jackson will go and get it as i said in about 1815 they think they get two slave states out of florida. going just run a line down the middle. they're going have east florida west f which four more senators that are pro slavery

more representatives that ar slavery and more enslaved people to count toward. so just like they thought they could get five states out of texas, they're doing a lot of thinking about how much can get out of florida. and i'llayal into this exploration kind of fever at the end of the lecture, because politics are really heavily i here, and it's not immediately apparent in the era because we haven'tf the compromise of 1820 and the compromise of 1850, but slavery is alive issue. and there is going to be questions about where slavery can go. right. last time we tal northwest ordinance predates all of this. no slavery in those sort of parts of great lakes territories. right here, there's going to be a kind of greater as slaveholders start to want to move west, especially into ee and georgia which we'll talk about next time kind of first major waves of indigenous removal in the united states which are made possible by this purchase. so what does jefferst the duties? i got to tell you, he loves a long letter. and we tald ime he made copy of every single one. he thinks he probably. 20,000 letters in his lifetime.

so lot i don't think i'll ever send that many emails. it's easier for me. right. so here's what jefferson says. and this is an excerpt from a much much longer letter that he sends to lewis and clark. the object of your mission is to explore the missouri river and such principles stream of it as its course with the water of the pacific ocean, may offer the direct and practicable water communication across the continent. all right. so why would access to the pacific via thet at this time. yeah because then they don't have to worry about going through any other nations like waterways or getting permissions toff like that. what was only other way to go to california at time. through the water? yeah, all across the. all the way down. yeah. really way the really long so all the way around south america. and it wasn't near that. no, no, absolutely no. that doesn' come till theodore roosevelt.

right. the panama canal comes after this class is over. right. wehere is no you know the route you have is over land and it' than to walk. so jefferson l rivers link up and we can just have a they do not yeah wet a train all the way california. that's right. and then that. so the pacific which i'll talk about 1862 gives he t kind of first they'll start surveying for those railroads in the 1850s. but at thi point even steamships are rare. so you're actually under your so lewis and clark, as i'll say they'rethey may have burned up to 8000 calories a hard were working. gh crazy. so they did not need to hit the gym after long day of exploring. so yeah, water super important a pathway to the pacific and potential tr routes with eastern sort nations like russia to some extent but also possibly at china and japan. right. because the only way around was

ath south america. and that's a long way i think approximately 180 day journey if you coast of the united states, go all the way down to end up in california. it tak right. so if you can a quicker w take it. and then jefferson says, obviously, we all know that there are people living in the louisiana territory. you're going to probably run into them. ll the information you can about them about th speak about their allegiances, about their affilia live how they sustain themselves and to do as much you can not to make them hate the united states, if at all possible. right. we talked we ended last time on this idea that one of the most omnipresent threats to the new american republic were these powerful indigenous nations. lewis as diplomats going out to the west trying to meet with indigenous peoples and to tor a sense of where allegiances lie. keoups do and how spread out and these indigenous peoples

are so they're going to try and y have some knowledge of. some of the groups there are going n't know well at all. and then he says, yeah, we're sort of diplomats. you why didn't they come with trade goods? they did. yeah t like metals and blankets and nice clothing and eve gave out weapons and guns and ammunition. so jefferson did give them lots ofly had a piece metal minted out of gold that they would handders to say, you, you are now at peace with the united states whether or not. the indigenous leaders bought that we won't know. but you know, because the readingust did. yeah talked about how the with their offerings and how like they brought all this stuff. real. right. in thereading was from elizabeth book about the mandan french for decades. and so they'd encountered sort of angle europeans before or you french europeans and they'd given them nice stuff. so in lewis and clark show up

with their little boats and things to offer you, but there could be lots more people, so we can't give you everything. they'regave us a lot more. so the mentions are a particularly interestingincorporated into these european trading networks relationship with the french tr clark yeah, they're not as impressive what they're a littlekets, and then they're like, we just stay with you for the to. and it turns out dakota is prett't want to keep going. the river's freeze over the missouri will actually freezemassive river. so yeah, but it's a great queson try to be diplomats but they thely carry what they carry and there's only so many of them know, about 40, 45 folks go on this they're really small kind of group. remarkable. maybe only one casualty. theire time other worthy of your notice. jefferson says, the soil, the growth and vegetable, the animals of the country especially those not known to us. the remains and accounts of any which may be deemed rare or exti mineral of every kind metalssalt. peter sailings mineral waters

salt making gunpowder noting temperature of the last in such character volcanic appearance is climate as character as by the thermometer the proportion of rainy, cloudy and clear days lightning, hail, ice, access and risk of frost winds. the data which plants put forth or lose their flowers or leaves times of appearance ofirds reptiles or insects. he's like, tell me everything. i'll write it all down. yeah, i really did have like zero clue what could be out there. just like, because he's just like volcanic appearance. yeah. so it's justwn literally every well and they get when they it's not the yellowstone like oh my goodness, the earth is explodin now they could have asked indigenous people, yeah. sosee these different ditches and then they of is there, did all these native because? i mean, you have this group of people in and need food water and they do they an yeah i'm in the lewis and clark expedition is not possible

without peopldige that they encounter and i'll talk in a where or chicago. we're who becomes an avatar in our sort of national consciousness for the american help that lewis and clark received. but she is certainly not the only indigenous person that plays anral in getting them across the continent. so like for real, didn't they just sit down and ask somebody about what was over here? like, actually, why have you met an american just racism is the answer just raisest of it. yeah, jefferson is really. and notes on the state of virginia. massive sort of earth mounds that that are disc louis. he has this of long again. he dudes long kind of exposition about where could these where could these mountains have been produced? uld not have been. these are impressive structures. they civilization and he's like they definitely could not been native americans. it was probably ancient. romans who came to the unitestates at some point thousands

of years ago, built th left and had to have been a civilization on par with ancient rome. people, which is bonkers because this is like the principle is like the most obvious probably. the answer it was it was obviously indigenous aliens. they. right, right. it's aliens. yeah. rather a pyramid is simply the most reasonable which just blocks definitely right. so so no. the answer the question is yeah they just any value on indigenous knowledge. right. at the beginning of the class that's going to followr kind of native people in the united states. native people can never be civilized as they are. they do not possess. the ha set european sort of americans apar intelligence. so they don't listen to them but they're happy to to have theirver and. thats sting. the british are the same so when the british start exploring in the antarctic will often get stuck. and then all the explorers die they don't come back to britain and the british will send out theseand the explorers.

and there's a famous case, the ship only disc ago where the british sent out relief expedition around the century. and the local inuit people were like yeah, they were like over like a few weeks ago and the boat was like stuck in the ice.e british were great. they went and looked, you know way over there they found the boat exactly. the inwards had said it was going to be 100 years prior. kind of my assumption thatme value. in fact, it was exactly what you needed kind asked, write. but there's thomas jefferson. this ishecommissioned by west point in university i think is interesting right. he's got a rolled up in his hand suggestive kind of his vision for the place. he was a tall dude, not as tall as george washington. and don't that didn't bother him but he seethed about the explorers. all right to explore and i put that in the exact reason the idea that this unknown territory is quite silly to the americans. it certainly was jefferson ether lewis to

find a route to pacific. lewis as sort of a friend of jefferson who'd worked alongside jefferson for many years, is also from the same part of virginia right? jefferson is from albemarle county and its surroundinga. he says, hey, you got some time, you got a d love to see if you can find a water route to the not? i'll take it on, but i'd like to have a second in command. and he asks william clark to to fulfill that role. clark is part of a family of noted soldiers and explorers his brother, george rodgers. participant in that northwest indian war talked last class. and so clark kind of has a of this. i would saycapable of the two. also, poor meriwether lewis$ just kind of fumbles and bumbles in the most famous of these is when he's down, kind of in that part of idaho there he drops down

there, he's with another of the expedition who isis not great when he has a gun. g after sort of two deer. they one of the deer and itbut the second deer kind of scampered. and so they both went off into try and get the deer. and just as lewis deer, a bullet hits him right be bum and he's li me? and the guy's like, no definitely wasn't me. thought was shooting the deer. and lewis was like, i am not the i'm the commander of this expedition. so i think lewis is the only member of the expedition get shot in the --. but this the kind of stuff that they havl with and they don't have really chance of running for help. they got the bullet out and it was clearly from the dude's gun. no this and look these things repeat in so not the first time a government official has accidentally shot someone on a expedition. so clark will be the second in command and they have about 45 men along on the expedition

including clark's enslaved servant, york, who unpaid member of the expedition and to the joy of of of kidsclark site a large newfoundland dog named se came them seaman has a statue at fort mandan which is we'll talk about they spend their first winter and so on. i remember as a kid being sort of deeply delighted by the story of, seaman the dog and lewis and clark is aiod in the nation's history because it has kind of all these of characters and it's it is really a massive undertaking. so the red line there is is how they go out to the pacific as they come back and realize there's direct water route and that will take them where they want to go. they split up to, explore more territory, and then expeditions kind oft off from one another. so they do try to cover a lot of

ground and they name places on the american map afterexpedition as we've already talked about a little rivers and prominent landmasses and son map with american ideas about all of these places so up up the missouri pretty easy job of it and then get into montana things get a little tricky so the corps of discovery as the becomes known they will meet and in a variety of guides traders including a frenchman named toussaint charbonneau and his young. she was probably about 16 when they married maybe 14 wife chicag heir o was a shoshone womasold to the hidatsa,f the mandan indian nation. as a young and traded to them, charbonneau was a frenchman a french trader, a french national who married several indian, many sort of and had several at the

same time sort of over the course of his life. butexpedition. it leaves fort mandan, kind of up there in north dakota, the middle of north dakota with to the pacific coast, the first winter in february 1805 while expedition is wintering at the small installation they build on the missouri river called fort. so kagawa gives birth to a son, jean-baptisteau, who goes to the pacific wit as a baby who is by lewis and clark. so k points not only helps the expedit track, but she also saves a bunch of journals and other scientific material. when one of the keel boats thatng turns over in some rapids. she actually managl of the materials i was reading about the expedition and york the enslaved manservant who goes along, was perhaps the only member of the expedition who knew how tohich you would think would have been a prerequisite for for going on aanoe trip. but but it was not so.

so today you can still in every year there's a different back these the chicago area gold coins and each year the back reflects a different sort of moment in the country's native american history or prominent native american jean-baptiste is the second child to ever appear on american currency after virginia dare who was included on a commemorative james coin yeah, they still do yeah. and different back every year. i used to get all of those when i lose my teeth have like a million all of them from around . so they can they still make them. yeah absolutely. get them in shnd here. i mean they come on as change. yeah. that's very funny. that's all we get. quarters i feel bad. now, you got to you got to drop the secret of the it's only a few machines thatwill i will tell you afterwards. secret. it's not for the not for the c-span. yeah. they don't need to know. that' right. but yeah. they still make them so and as i said sacagawea it kind of stands in for, in our retelling of the lewis and clark legend,

like sort of brushed by show of hands. how many of you knew a before? like, how many like how old do you think you were? likeprobably like eight or nine. i did like a million projects on her. we? yeah. 097588. yeah yeah. so you learn about her as a young kind of. right. an then is that, is she like the primary thing you remember from lewis and clark, she's the only i mean when it came to helping. yeah, lewis, she was the o was. right. and i remember learniven or eight but i guess from getting the coins i thought she a lot more of a like adiscussed when you get to school it's like she was also so it's kind of like she had this huge impact, but it's not really taught in american public yeah yeah, i learning about your york i think i remember the dog bite of i remember learning kind of more about not just her but i mean obviously like the biggest one right she she's on money. yeah, she's on money. she's got statues. almost any woman in american history at various places across the country um.

yeah. um, so i never, i never heard of that dog. it was the first time i've that, that, that was a total that's totally different. so moderately obsessed with a kid. yeah. he was this big newfoundland they didn't know about him for many years. and then they were finally readinth e journals and they kept seeing repeated references, this kind of animal. and they were like, oh, they must've hadli d, w it's, it's interesting. but ye remarkable figure, but sort of one of many indigenous people that the lewis and clark expedition possible re recognition than than kind of indigenous participants in american history but just don't know how much of a choice she kit in this expedition right she had been kidnaped at a age. she had been married off to a white man. she had him and he her she was going on the he expedition. whether or not of participation or pride inexpedition, we can never really know but her son does make a career and a life as an explorer

guide for the us army he's eventually by william clark and raised in many years. he like half a dozen l remarkable figure in his own rightth of famous mother. so, so yeah. an't that right. but but there she is part of this corps oiscovery and as i said, a huge part ofreason having a baby and woman along with you forosobably a pretty good idea is that reasonable way to hold up your hands and say, hey, don't into a new indigenous n peace, we have a woman and a baby wit any harm. and so sacagawea and baptist very helpful in terms of the diplo discovery as they go out into the west so they believed, again have you met an that they could simply go out to all these indigenous nations and say we're here now, we're in of united

states is now your great you are his children. and you must all getng part of this country. now we sortthis. and i'm sure the indigenous people that really i don't see how you're going to pull that off. but that's what they did. and they truly believe that that do realized that indigenous people had deep rivalries with one another, and that theredifferent groups were just going to get along because. the louisiana territory now belonged to. the united states and. they had to become much shrewder and wiser with these native groups to secure their safe passage across the continent, to trade for the supplies, the horses, food, the protection that they needed to to cross these mountains and and rivers of the west. so they have to learn on the job. 's a very interesting kind of assumption. they go out there just thinking it's going toall.

and of course, as is always case in history, right. much more complicated than that. painting, the leclark expedition on th has. lots of work hanging in the air and carter museum in foror go see its wonderful museum, if you ever want to see art that is produced by toring expeditions, the carter cannot be in manyare the lewis and clark expedition achieved? well, they made a lot of0 of them to the best of e scientific, you know compasses ways t longitude and so on. they tribes during the course of their expedition and their reports and journals describe more than 200 new plant and animals species they caught or trapped as many as they could and sent artifacts backthomas jefferson who displayed in ey to his home at monticello. so have among which all you got to go absolutely phenomenal but you walk in through those those from the portico outside the building and you see a massive map of the

united states. the jefferson head commission and these these are replica artifacts because. many of the native nations who had artifacts sent back dem returned, which is their right under federal. but jefferson had this displayed in and in the 19th century, you could just decide in the morning i want to go see thomas today and you could walk up monticello and you could sit in the room and wait to see the former of these objects brought from the american west, things that your life as a virginian. and so it bringing the frontier this, dimericans really didn't know about. back vast quantity of kno explorers are going to do fromforward. there's other parts of the lewis of that have to be explored, including d so jefferson, another army guy with great name of zebulon pike phenomenal name to be a famous historical figure.

you to locate the headwaters of the arkansas river and the rio grand. so go out the south, go across kansas and, colorado and figure out what's going on out there. the problem was there was a lot more trouble with diplomacy that zebulon pike hadn into because that territory the louisiana purchase in the southern part of the the spanish didn't really want a bunch of americans showing up in this southwestern part, the united states and the americans don't have any maps to tell them. quite precise, where the american territory the louisiana purchase ends, spanish territory begins. so zebulon accidentally gets kidnaped by the spanish because he wanders down so southern into near santa fe and albuquerque and they take him prisoner all the way down into mexico where they try and figure out what he's doing they take all his

documents an and go through them and have them translated and they think he's a spy orto the mexican government and so on and then oh, you're literally just a dude drawing plants. you to rio grand and say, san antonio's way, get walking and pike and his guys walk back to the united states across texas. they sort of they end up in nacogdoches, right? so arely interesting kind of moment in an expedition you hear about lot because it didn't fulfill its kind o was find the headwaters of the arkansas and the grande because of that minorkidnaping incident and. though he's a smart guy. he says, just in case, i'm to take a lot of notes about what's going on here and this sort of territory known as, you know, just in case that might come in handy later, which of course it andends his name pikes peak, which is most prominent of the 14,000

foot peaks in southern c texans who flee there every summer. recoloradans. and i say that as a colorado. pike absolutely. a here. but they said go that directi g maps documentation like okay this is kind of our area stay away from were roads. i mean, they basically had a sense of like the missions w territory for decades or centuries this point. no, no, not quite, but nearly. yeah. so this was when like we hadn't decided that rio grande was like the border. so where, where were the border was right. soquestionably a part of the louisiana purchase. so. so most of texas not the what the, texas panhandle, but that's about it. and then that corner of new mexico. right. and this right where santa fe and albuquerque kind of are. so they were right skirting the edge of of what territory was. so, yeah they got when they

went them, over to albuquerque. that's where they got themselves into trouble. happens, it was z06 for whatever reason i don't know louis clark. they end up in the san luis which is a massive mountain park where the great sand dunes are in winter year, and pike will literally write things in a journal like we didn' i don't like. i don't know why his expedition they just seemed more ill equipped than lewis clark. but they havteresting story, the kind of final leg ofring louisiana purchase is the long expedition, which fewer peoplees a little later in 1820. stephen h lg great and his job isof the rocky mountains trying to figure out now what are the mountains where are the places that we can cross these rocky mountains which are massive, right. especially in that sort of portion of colorado longs peak which is the most furthest north 14,000 foot mountain infront range, which is there in the corner.

that photograph of no is named stephen long. landscape if you're driving across the west and you thio after? probably an army dude, right? and so one thing that long does that's really interesting and it's going to have a significant impact on our understanding of especially the great which we're going to talk out more detail later is he calls this region that he passes through nebraska and colorado and kansas, the great american desert? and he'sing basically nothing is ever going to grow here. it's not of much middle part of the country this massive canadian border all the way down into north texas is virtually and a remarkable kind of statement. so remember when frederick jackson turner talkedboequent stages of american expansion and how it basically skipped that chunk because they desert and no one bothered to follow up on that. how did he all the stuff that

was there time of year he went through so we turn to winter so it's drier the g doesn't look very fertile aou saw he didn't see a lot of water and that is true the great pla especially when you get beyond 100th meridian which basically not too farest austin. so there's this line is the hundredth 100th rainfall off so precipitously on meridian, agriculture becomes almost impossible without irriga so he's right. he's seeing really dry pieces of he doesn't know that irrigation technology is going to come al all of those problems. but the reason turner that american expansion, the reason the great plains, actually the last part of the frontier to be settled is partly because long, calls it a it's a good question. yeah. uh, i like his little, little outfit. i do liky er, you know, the best post i'm going to be painted. 'm a point. something. the army kind of doubles down on

its exploring corps in the 1830s by creating what becomes known as the corps of topographical engineers. and these are guys that are basically their whole job topography to go out and explore. i'm trying figure out what's up what's going on all across the west andan, who was a famous historian, pulitzer prize winning historian, t wrote as army officers, they the direct concern of the national government in the settling of the west. there's a type there, and that's true. right. so what doing is being that representative of federal government on the frontier, they are bringing in, they are consolidating it and they are reporting directly back to washington. it might take weeks to get there, but they, the federal government's ve in the west and they make lots of wonderful art and drawings. these an alligator and these are produced in the 1830s at a place calledlahich ist pu in the carolinas, on the

savannah. and they are charge of building a fort pulaski. they're in the local tree. so army officers, regardless of what they're doing, have this incredible impulse to be document sitting, recording and ut the places they're going. and therefore provide an for understanding, aiding the early am west, and especially how white americans thought about this as space and time. it's really funny. education like at west point? the education they were receiving was very well rou that from like other sources? like in other military powers sure, yeah. so so there would have been officers schools in those countrieut the remember, these are those countries also compel citizens. the united states doesn't so this is a self-selecting group probably to be engineers rather than soldiers they have to serve five years when they get of them leave. so they would've been officer training and west point does mmissioned as an officer coming out of west point but it would have been strategy. it's kind of a very uniqu what was the reaction if you know some of the of like other countries to this new american

system of military. they didn't think that they were as as capable. right. yeah. i mean they were lookeuse they weren't spending all this time on tactics and training also. it's really funny. there's a kind of ahistory of the american civil war, whether the french or prussians had more influence on the american military. they're obsessed withench. it's it's not even close. they basically pattern their uniforms on design. french systems, french french tactics. thanks a lot. thomas jefferson. right. we talkewesome loves the french loves to write a long hates to be shorterso so yeah, so good question. as the equals of the greatean military powers, though the us wi send its officers and soldiershe fighting to observe what's going on. so several civil war officers will go observe the crimean war in the 1850s a of what's going on there. but primarily they want tot of right and draw and explore and map and that's what they're

really really good at and sometimes times wars give them the cover to do that even a little had zebulon pike there accidentally getting a place he shouldn't have been in new um, well it's only going to be a couple decades and here's where we're going to kind of jump forward time a little bit to talk about some other explorers that the united states is finally going to getry and they're going to do under the cover of a mexico in the 1840, to win that territorytates after, the session of us war offers officers an unprecedented opportunity to finally fill in america and maps of the american very and there's a couple of guys i'll highlight here i won't too much about steven he's a really important army. he captures santacalifornia during the us-mexico war and establishes military code of governance that's really in military history. but perhaps the more important

guy to know about in terms of army exploration in this period is this fremont who is a membe topographical who is sent explore california and the pacific coast in 1840s. fremont makes several expeditions to california. but in 1846, his expedition is the one that helps conquer california for the united states subduing the b flag, revolt and proclaiming sovereignty. california out of the hands. the navy. i always want to be very clear. the navy is involved. but what we really care about are these army guys. but in 1846, without firing a shot the captures california and fremont basically free to establish a headquarters and start to map and explore california and. i going to turn up we'll talk about it in a minute but it's going to produce great

value for. the us, fremont is going to beco famous as this pathfinder. that's his nickname, th california that he's going to run for president. candidate for president in 1856. he does not win lost james buchanan. and that's brutal like jambuchanan. but he tried it is best he w a major figure in the american civil war, though for basically the entire war complaining that nobody appreciates himd be giving him more to do and eventually lincoln's going to be like, john please just go awa because of his ex alongside a critical figure who helps him endeavors and by the name of kit carson. but i want to say army, officers often went out west alone or with other soldiers. butr times they decided that wanted to take their with them. and if you weren't, officer, you had the right to do this and so there

takes his wife jesse, benton fremont, who's theus senator who was one of the biggest promoters of manifest destiny in u.s. history, george custer, who will explore in the west and the yellowstone in black hills after the civil war takes libbiefes wi custer, with himhe west and husbands these women write perceive but they do itent perspective. they're not writing as potential as mothers. and they're writinginto american families. can ply a masculine space, not simply a rs and soldiers and what have you, but that americans. and they write and these books get published and popular accounts of these western travels. so the american public, as much they're interested in the stories of jnt, george custer, they're interested in the stories of jesse benton and libbie bacon as well so it's a

really there's a tendency, right? in a lecture about the us army west to maybe not mention women at all, awould, raising their hands in the back and saying, where are the women at? question. but just to say they were equally important iny different way and so their sources critical as well. they were nott from this space, which is important to note, as very masculine space at this ' carson, who is a huge aide to john c fremont as goes to california. carson is one of the kind of greats a american figures though his biography is is complicated, difficult to wrestle with as as any figure of 19th century. het times a great friend to indigenous peoples at other times involved in relocate, removing and engaging and being complicit in the massacre of peoples. at times he worked for the us, at times he was an indian agent and independent guide. what you but he is one of these

frontier figures that does whatever he can to earn a living to make a life. but the point of carson was just as the point was with where the army can't do this alone and it ne there who have done the work, who've gone to the west and and can help the army get where they need, go like literally be like, t way. it's a swamp map, a sense of where things are, you're not going knowledge that sits in place. and carson is figures. so at times army officer but really a trailblazer in the american, a figure like daniel boone'll talk about in a couple of weeks. sorry, you can't avoid him in this class. what else does the army do? so we've talked about their reports. we've talked about they send samples back. theyrepresent nations of. d after the civil war, most army topographical expeditions will be accompanied by a photographer. now, this is a pain in the -- the 19th century involves massive glass. and let me tell yoglass over a mountain in a bumpy

wagon with i mean springs but they don't really do much to cushion the ride is a dangerous proposition your plates might not get back but what we'll always get back west pointers is take classwatercolor and drawing because they're beisk represent the west to an american public in the east that h seen these places. and again, here's army explorers are frontier corps is being rendered for the average americanght go west. it's closing the distance in timepace between, the far west and the settled example of an army reus-mexican war. a yme abbott gets sick near modern day. ben's fort colorado carnies like we cannot for you to get better we were needed in california but once you do feel better, why don't you take some instruments and go down into new co a panhandle and make the first american map of what texas, new mexico. and abbott is like great.

abbott isdad was in charge of the corps of topographical engineers and t wonderful of military documents right that time care into them that they works art and these armyts will get published with full lithograph in books that the american public c buy. they're literally going and buying official government reports kind of full see and, read and know about aso you can find abbott's li get copies of them. they'regive you it's not i couldn't get a high resolution but i just guesses as to who you think painted this. i don't know i don't know what clues i could give you he's a soldier he's on the good side in the civil ohio a general he's goes. gray ulysses grant. that's right. grant noted water colorist. and again, right?

i mean, you all know the story. i'm sure when grant shows up atoint and they have his name down wrong, the paperwork, you am. his name is hiram ulysses they're like, oh, ulysses s grantand he was like five feet tall. he weighed 100 he's this scrawny little. he was like, yep, that's right. that's my name. no further questions. thank goodness he did because otherwise his initials would have been hug and don't think a guy with the initials hug really could have won the unconditional surrender grant that's avictory. but he's noted at west people and also as a horseman, he held jum records, horsemanship records west point that stood for decades after l academy. he topped out at five foot eight, about 180. so he had growth, but he was an average size century american. like army explorers, he sent he's he is inwinfield and zachary taylor. r, he goes to the pacific northwest to oregon andin and makes notes and observations liry sou ae y at

you all are going to reading for this class is an army officers journal, right lawrence camps journal, the pacific northwest in the 1850s. and it's about warfare on the one hand, but it's also right lucrative living, but it advantage if you were enough to take hold of it and there are soldiers who are able to do who out west as army officers and they're employed by the but on the day to day maybe they're not so busy and they supplement theirways so you have to buckaroos they're going to end up on opposite sides of the civil war. one of them, william tecumseh sherman, a good guy. the other richard stoddard ewell, he's on the confederate side, has a terrible day at gettysburg. look, not important, but they split, incomes by investing in to so because they have the first crack at the thing there's not a flood of other americans who have come in to compete with them. and john c also profits this john c fremont establishes home in california and gold he rich off

of that sostarts the california gold rush when he military documents that gold had been discovered atbut also earned money by applying those enginee learned west point and helping to survey and townities, the modern day city of sacramento california, capital of califut by william tecumseh sherman, who knew richard, as you willmexico frequently wrote to his famit goi in mining operations because. ay money because army officers didn't get paid about $70 a week. it's pay for the 19th century but not a massive so one advantage you had as a soldier wa thing. so what do army officers ul it comes to the american west in their exploration? borderlands these frontiers, and right. and so one of the things we're really talking about in this frontier is how do you wrestle a vast space that is basically ungoverned into a space with lines on the map? and in 1854, for the first time,

the united states army produces the american west. its collatedgeera ed, gouverneur warren, day gettysburg and help to of round tops during that battle. respected topographical engineer will actually command all engineers in the us war at various points. but he draws this map. he takeshed ark zebulon and stephen long and john putting them together to make map of the american west and to fur traders and mountain men and said draw can it all together. and here's the map that he makes but it's a map that for the first time tries to sketch in very clear lines. where's territory of the united states? so on and so the basis for the us construct with the help of the army, the kind ofpr bind the nation together, that will really tconnect pacific and the atlantic and is the railroad talked a little bit about howand that's how

i'll finish up. jefferson davis is 1850s, right? he'll go on to be president of thederacy, one of the largest slave holders in the united states as secretary of parate surveys to go out and find a line for apacific coast one goes along the northern of the country ending in the puget. a central line goes to san francisco from saint louis, one north of oklahoma to los angeles and the southernmost survey went across texas here to san diego and followed an oldfth survey went up and down the coast. california jefferson davis i expedition out. he's going to pay them very well and he's going to ask them to collect all this knowledge about which route will be the best.s the 1850s. slavery is a live issue. ithat jefferson thinks that the best route for the pacific road is the one that goes through texas, because that's the one that h benefit to slaveholders. right. it's go back. it's that route in right there.

so when davis makes hisngress, he's like, they're all great. but i would suggest we bui because it's the most expedient if we ever need to get troops to california because being invaded and congress is like, hmm, seems unlikely and because the country cannot agree on which railroad is the greatest national because is such a divisive issue in the 1850s. the railroad doe get until after the civil war, which finally decides the9c issue of slavery in the united states. jefferson because was no water on the westacott of west texas, and when he sent out an army officer, john water, he didn't find any but he spent three years holes into the ground and trying to find it. but this the point here right not all army expeditio army names go down in the history books. great triumphsjohn is not a triumph for a number of reasons, but this is one of them. so here's politics at play. we railroad. it will make slaveholders the point is at the end of theknowledge collecting enterprise

on the part of the us army to help us understand the frontier better becomes by the midpoint of the 19th century an exercise fraught with political. and one that will in to trigger the american civil the question what's going on in the frontier is going to be critically the facarmy spends most of its time on the front significantly in helping to cause the civil of. the army in texas and new mexico, he' slavery and is using the army to do it. and so they become a pconcern as well. and so that's whr today. thanks, as always. any questions comments?ome see me.