Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives
Lewis & Clark College Special Collections and
Archives
Aubrey R. Watzek Library
0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd.
Portland, OR 97219
archives@lclark.edu
503-768-7254
OLPb146LCD
The Lewis and Clark Expedition Government Documents
Collection
1801-1832
1 box
.5 cubic feet
This collection includes early government documents and
newspaper reports documenting the Lewis and Clark Expedition between the years
1801-1832.
Special Collections
English
Historical Note
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) helped determine a
nation's destiny. Between 1803 and 1806 they led the Corps of Discovery,
commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, across the uncharted American West.
Operating under a letter of instruction from Jefferson, they carried the concerns of
the American Enlightenment ot the sprawling interior of the continent.
This collection of early published notices of the Expedition includes: U.S. House of
Representatives and Senate publications that summarize congressional activity on the
Lewis and Clark Expedition's initial funding, Jefferson's 1806 progress report, and
reports of the Corps of Discovery's safe return. This collection is a partial
assemblage of the exhaustive listing of items described in
The Literature
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays
published by Lewis & Clark College in 2003
Government documents and periodical publications.
Arranged in the item order found in
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
This collection has no restrictions and is open for research.
Permission to publish, exhibit, broadcast, or quote from materials in the Watzek
Library Archives & Special Collections requires written permission of the Head
of Archives & Special Collections.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition Government Documents Collection (OLPb146LCD), Lewis
& Clark College Aubrey Watzek Library Archives & Special Collections,
Portland, Oregon.
Processed in 2002.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog.
Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should
search the catalog using these headings.
Clark, William, 1770-1838
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809
Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)
West (U.S.) -- Discovery and exploration
Expeditions and Adventure>
Laws and Legislation
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the
collection.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2a.1
1.1
Jefferson’s Confidential Request for
Funds
1803
On January 18, 1803 President Jefferson sent a confidential message to both
house of Congress requesting funds for an expedition promoting commerce with
the Indian tribes along the Missouri River. This message was recorded in
confidence for the Members of Congress, and the printed proceedings of House
and Senate note the delivery of the message, but it was not made available
to the public in printed form till 1828.
This file includes copies of: Glazier reprint,
Journal of the House of
Representatives, 1801-1809, 2, 124f; Glazier reprint,
Journal of the Senate, 1801-1809, 2, 44f; and
American State Papers (1832), Class II. Indian Affairs,
item 102, pp. 684-685.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2a.3
1.2
Act Authorizing Jefferson to take possession
of the Louisiana Territory
1803
This file includes copies of: Glazier reprint, Journal of the House of
Representatives, 1801-1809, 3, 20ff; and Glazier reprint, Journal of the
Senate, 1801-1809, 3, 8ff.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2a.4
1.3
Report of the Commerce Committee
1804
This file includes: Disbound section of report containing the commerce and
manufacturers component.
Full title:
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURERS, WHO
WERE INSTRUCTED, BY A RESOLUTION OF THIS HOUSE, OF THE 18th ULT. "TO
ENQUIRE INTO THE EXPEDIENCY OF AUTHORISING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, TO EMPLOY PERSONS TO EXPLORE SUCH PARTS OF THE PROVINCE OF
LOUISIANA
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2b.1
1.4
Jefferson’s Report to Congress
1805-1806
This file includes: Disbound section of the
Medical Repository
(November / December 1805, January 1806): 315-318. Includes a notice of
Jefferson's official report and a proposal for Lewis's Map of the
Parts of North-America which lie between the 35th and 51st Degrees of
North Latitude, from the Mississippi and the upper Lakes to the North
Pacific Ocean.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2b.2
1.5
Jefferson’s Letter to Congress
February 19,
1806
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Congress dated February 19, 1806 discussing
Lewis and Clark’s travels up the Missouri to Fort Mandan. This letter is
included as the introduction to the full report to Congress printed by A
& G Way, Washington, 1806.
This file includes: Disbound original
JOURNAL OF THE SENATE OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA lacking title page; and Glazier
reprint, Journal of the Senate, 1801-1809, 5, 144-147.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2b.3
1.5b
Jefferson’s Report to Congress
1832
“Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition. Communicated to Congress, February 19, 1806.”
American State Papers Class II. Indian Affairs. No. 113.
9th Congress, 1st Session. pp. 705-743. This is a copy of Jefferson’s Report
to Congress, Washington, 1806.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2b.7
1.6
The Panoplist; or the Christian’s
Armory
April,
1806
This file includes: the article titled “Literary, Philosophical and
Geographical Intelligence” with copies of Jefferson’s Letter to Congress,
February 19, 1806, and Lewis’s Mandan letter to Jefferson.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2c.2
1.7
Jefferson’s Message to Congress
December 2,
1806
Jefferson’s Message to Congress of December 2, 1806, regarding the completion
of the expedition and its success.
This file includes copies of: Glazier reprint, Journal of the House of
Representatives, 1801-1809, 6, 9-17; and Glazier reprint, Journal of the
Senate, 1801-1809, 6, 8-21.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2c.3
1.8
Jefferson’s December 2, 1806
Message
December 2,
1806
Jefferson’s Message to Congress of December 2, 1806, regarding the completion
of the expedition and its success.
This file includes: December 6, 1806,
The Weekly Inspector of
New York. Vol. I, No. 15, pp. 121, 132-6. Reprint of Jefferson’s Message to
Congress, December 2, 1806.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2c.4
1.9
Bill Making Compensation to Lewis and
Clark
1807
This file includes copies of:
The American State Papers
reprint of the text of Washington 1807, substitled “Military Affairs”, Vol.
1, pp. 207-209, 9th Congress, 2nd Session, No. 68 “Gratuities to the
Officers and Men in the Expedition to the Pacific Ocean, Under Lewis and
Clarke; and Glazier reprint, Journal of the House of
Representatives, 1801-1809, 6, 191; and Glazier reprint,
Journal of the Senate, 1801-1809, 6 pp. 220.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 2c.4
1.10
Bill Making Compensation to Lewis and
Clark
1807
Title page bound in back following Index and Table of Contents. Chapter
LXXVII is titled “AN ACT making compensation to Messrs. Lewis and Clarke,
and their companions” (294-295). This is the final version of the act
approved by both houses of Congress and the President of the United States,
March 3, 1807.
This file includes:
THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v. 8, 1807.
See
Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for
information on other versions of this text housed elsewhere.
Lit. of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition MISC
1.11
Photocopies of articles in the National
Intelligencer
1807