Unit 5: Lewis and Clark

Unit 5: Lewis and Clark Expedition

Multiple Choice

In which direction was the United States growing?

• North

• East

• West

Draw

Circle the area of land that the United States bought in the Louisiana Purchase.

Multiple Choice

The Lewis and Clark Expedition lasted about ____years.

• 4

• 3

• 2

President Jefferson wanted to explore the new land. He created the Corps of Discovery to go on an expedition to the west.



A Corps is a group of people that have the same job.

Multiple Choice

What was the name of the group Lewis and Clark formed?

• Tag team to traverse the country

• Corps of Discovery

• Duo of Discovery

• Expedition Team

Expedition -- a journey for a specific reason


Lewis and Clark went on their expedition to find out about the land that was bought in the Louisiana Purchase.

Multiple Choice

What is a journey for a specific reason -- like to find out about the land to the west?

• Expedition

• Migrate

• Adventure

Multiple Choice

What was the purpose of the expedition?

• To search for gold

• To search for oil

• To explore and map the land

• To trade goods and supplies

Multiple Choice

Based on the map, what river did Lewis and Clark start their expedition on?

• Yellowstone River

• Missouri River

• Mississippi River

Reaching the Pacific!

It took 3 and a half months to get across the Rocky Mountains.

Finally, they came across the Colombia River and followed it until it reached the Pacific Ocean!

Multiple Choice

Which ocean did they reach?

• The Atlantic Ocean

• The Arctic Ocean

• The Pacific Ocean

Success of the Expedition

Lewis and Clark's team mapped uncharted land, rivers, and mountains. They brought back journals filled with details about Native American tribes and scientific notes about plants and animals they'd never seen before. They also brought back stories—tales that made other Americans dream about heading west.

Open Ended

What is one thing the Corp of Discovery brought back with them?

HOWEVER, this would not be possible without...

Sacagawea (1788-1812)

A teenager named Sacagawea served as an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the western United States. She was a Lemhi Shoshone Indian. She traveled thousands of miles through the wilderness with the explorers, from the Dakotas to the Pacific Ocean and back again.

She was captured as a child

When Sacagawea was ten years old, she was captured and taken far away from her home by the Hidatsa, a Native American people. 

Multiple Choice

Did Sacagawea grow up with her tribe?

• Yes

• No

Sacagawea was married

Sacagawea married Charbonneau, a French Canadian. Together, they hunted animals and traded furs. When they met Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, they joined the Corps. 

Multiple Choice

What jobs did Sacagawea and her husband do?

• hunt animals and trade fur

• make candles

• farming

She carried her baby on the the 2,500 mile trip

Sacagawea carried her baby on a cradleboard (also called a papoose). The baby would be swaddled tightly in a blanket and tied to the board. The board could be carried in one’s arms or on one’s back, like a backpack. 

She was brave

One day, both Lewis and Clark walked along the edge of the river. A sudden wind struck the canoe that carried all their papers, books, tools, medicines, and everything else they owned.

Charbonneau was in the canoe, but he didn’t know how to swim. He accidentally turned the canoe over on its side, dumping everything into the river. Sacagawea jumped into the river and saved all the things that had washed overboard. 

She saved the day

If the Corps’s things were destroyed in the water, the expedition would have had a harder time traveling and might have had to wait to get more supplies or turn around and go back home. 

Multiple Choice

The materials from the Corps of Discovery Expedition are:

• Primary Sources

• Secondary Sources

Shoshone Tribe

Lewis and Clark wrote that Sacagawea was brave and strong. When the Corps began to walk across the Rocky Mountains, Sacagawea knew she was back home in the land of her people, the Shoshone. She noticed that tree bark had been removed to make

food and medicine. This was a sign

that the Shoshone were nearby. 

Needed horses

The Corps needed horses to carry all their belongings across the Rocky Mountains. The explorers needed to trade some of the things they had brought for horses. When they met the Shoshone chief, Sacagawea gasped. 

Multiple Choice

Lewis and Clark needed to trade with the Shoshone because the Corps...

• couldn't get across the Rocky Mountains without horses.

• wanted to discover the Shoshone's customs and culture.

• needed medicine to help them survive the winter.

• completely ran out of food.

Reunion

The chief was her long-lost brother! She had found her family again. Her brother agreed to trade horses to Lewis and Clark and to send guides to show them the way across the mountains. 

Multiple Choice

When Sacagawea met the Shoshone Chief, she was most likely...

• polite because he was a stranger.

• scared because he led a band of strong warriors.

• bored because she's met several chiefs on the journey already.

• thrilled because he was her brother whom she hadn't seen in years.

Surviving Winter

Sacagawea also helped the Corps cross the dangerous, snow- covered Rocky Mountains. When the Corps ran low on food, she knew which berries and roots to eat. Sacagawea helped keep the men alive. Without her, it is unlikely that Lewis and Clark would have made it to the Pacific Ocean. 

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes the journey of the Corps of Discovery?

• relaxing and successful

• tough and long

• boring

• short

Draw

Trace the path the Corps of Discovery took to the Pacific Ocean.

Remembering Sacagawea

Sacagawea was a strong, brave woman. We have named mountains and rivers after

her. There are statues of her

all over our country.

Two hundred years later, people still remember her. The United States has made a dollar coin that shows her picture. 

Open Ended

Why was Sacagawea important to the history of the United States?

helped

exploration

west

Pacific Ocean

There were people
already living in the
west

 Native Americans lived on this land, and had done so for hundreds of years!