Lewis and Clark expediation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lewis and Clark expediation - Essay Example e expedition, Native Americans’ land was viewed as a mere continuation of American territory, with the Americans seeking to enlarge their territory by acquiring the Native Americans’ land. However, the Native Americans were primarily not objective towards the expedition seeing it as a way of enhancing trade relations with America, thereby increasing their access to commodities. Most Native groups cooperated with the discovery team by serving as the latter’s interpreters and guides, for instance, the Lewis and Clark led expedition include the Mandans, who grew corn on their land and resided in earth lodges. This group of natives agreed to trade with America and assisted the discovery team in finding food, accommodation and provided protection to the team. In addition, other groups of cooperative natives were the Sioux, the Hidatsa, the Chinook, Shoshone and the Arikara. All these groups had a positive impact on the success of the expedition and assisted the discov ery team in creating rapport with other groups (DeVoto, 1953, 29). One of the most notable Native American who assisted the expedition team was Sacajawea, wife to one of the hired Natives. Sacajawea played a key role in maintaining amiable relations between the team and other Native groups. However, there were some Native American groups that were not quite cooperative and who sought to have the discovery team expelled from their land through all necessary means, including warfare (Neuberger, 1962, 15). For instance, the Piegan  Blackfoot  warriors, whom the expedition team encountered at the Marias River. The expedition team was forced to retreat from the Piegan’s land for fear of attack when the Native group attempted to forcefully acquire the team’s weapons. The Lewis and Clark expedition had a major effect on the U.S policy towards Native Americans. U.S considered Native Americans in two conflicting ways that are Native Americans were either United States’ enemies during war, or they were