LEWIS AND CLARK AMONG THE INDIANS
STUDY GUIDE

Table of Contents

  • General Considerations
  • Chapter 1: The Voyage Begins
  • Chapter 2: The Teton Confrontation
  • Chapter 3: The Arikara Interlude
  • Chapter 4: The Mandan Winter
  • Chapter 5: Lewis and Clark as Plains Ethnographers
  • Chapter 6: Across the Divide
  • Chapter 7: Down the Columbia
  • Chapter 8: The Clatsop Winter
  • Chapter 9: The Way Home
  • Afterword and Appendix
  • Appropriate Links:

    General Considerations

    1. Be prepared to describe the goals of Lewis and Clark for each Native group.
    2. Be prepared to describe the goals of each Indian group in relation to Lewis and Clark:
        especially:Teton Sioux, Mandan, Shoshoni, Nez Perce.
    3. Be prepared to describe the organization and function of the Missouri River trading system.
    4. Be prepared to describe the organization and function of the Columbia River trading system.
    5. What were the Corps of Discovery's biggest successes and failures?

    Chapter 1:The Voyage Begins


    1. How were Lewis and Clark prepared for the trip?
    2. What is ethnography and why was it important to Lewis and Clark's success?
    3. What were Jefferson's goals for the trip?
    4. Why did Jefferson pick out the Sioux for special consideration?
    5. What trade items were packed for the trip?
    6. What maps did Lewis and Clark employ for their travels?
    7. Who were the members of the Corps of Discovery? Why were they selected?
    8. How did the Corps of Discovery plan to communicate with the Indians?
    9. What evidence did Lewis and Clark have of previous Indian-white contact?
    10. Be prepared to describe the events (protocol) in one of the Corps'-Indian meetings.
    11. What was the "Lewis and Clark medicine show"?
    12. What did the Native Americans that Lewis and Clark encountered teach L&C about the realities of Missouri River life?
    13. How were the Corps' agenda and that of the Otos and Omahas different?
    14. Ronda states on p23 that when Lewis and Clark entered the Sioux territory, it was a "plains world infinitely more complex than any they had encountered." Explain this statement.

    Chapter 2: The Teton Confrontation


    1. How did Lewis and Clark's encounter with the Teton Sioux symbolize the history of the Upper Missouri?
    2. Why was Thomas Jefferson especially interested in the Teton Sioux?
    3. What vital role did the Teton Sioux play in the Missouri river trade network?
    4. What role did the North West company play in the Missouri river trade network?
    5. How did the Sioux leaders Black Buffalo and the Partisan use Lewis and Clark in their own struggle for power politics?
    6. How was the language barrier overcome?
    7. How did the Teton confrontation begin and end? What were its consequences?
    8. Were the Sioux talks successful? Why or why not?

    Chapter 3: The Arikara Interlude


    1. What role did the Arikara play in the Missouri trade network?
    2. What did the Arikara material culture tell Lewis and Clark about their past?
    3. What role had disease played by the arrival of Lewis and Clark?
    4. Describe Arikara agriculture and its role in Missouri politics
    5. How did Lewis and Clark perceive Sioux-Arikara relations? Were they accurate?
    6. How did the Arikara perceive relations to the Sioux?
    7. What role did the Cheyennes play?
    8. Were the Arikaras a united band?
    9. What were Lewis and Clark's objectives for the Arikara? What was the Arikara's goal for Lewis and Clark?
    10. What were the Arikara's reaction to L&C's goals?
    11. How did the Arikara use Lewis and Clark for their own needs?
    12. Explain how the Arikara viewed the role of women and sex differently than Lewis and Clark.
    13. What Lewis and Clark folklore remained with the Arikaras?

    Chapter 4: The Mandan Winter
    1. Why did Lewis and Clark decide to winter among the Mandan?
    2. Describe the organization of the Mandan and Hidatsa villages.
    3. Explain why Ronda called the Mandan and Hidatsa villages the "central market place of the Northern Plains."
    4. What were Lewis and Clark's goals for the Mandans?
    5. What was the Mandan's reaction to Lewis and Clark's goal of Mandan-Arikara peace?
    6. Describe some of the ways in which the Mandans sought to use Lewis and Clark in their own power struggles.
    7. Explain why Ronda states that Lewis and Clark were not "masters of Upper Missouri Indian affairs" but simply players in a complex game made more intricate by their very presence.
    8. How did the Corps of Discovery spend the Mandan winter?
    9. Why did Lewis and Clark manufacture war axes for the Mandan?
    10. What was the role of sex in relations between the Corps of Discovery and the Mandan/Hidatsa?
    11. Was Lewis and Clark's winter with Mandan successful? Why or why not?

    Chapter 5: Lewis and Clark as Plains Ethnographers
    1. What central problem did the Corps of Discovery have that hindered their skills as ethnographers?
    2. What kinds of items did Lewis and Clark want to learn about each Native American group?
    3. How did they ascertain information?
    4. How did Lewis and Clark overcome the language problems?
    5. Among the entire Corps of Discovery, which men were the best ethnographers? Why?
    6. What was the "Estimate of Eastern Indians?"
    7. How successful were Lewis and Clark in obtaining maps of where they were bound?
    8. What were some of Lewis and Clark's successes and failures as ethnographers?

    Chapter 6: Across the Divide
    1. As Lewis and Clark left the Mandans, what were their goals?
    2. What role did Sacagawea have in the search for the Shoshoni?
    3. Describe the first meeting between the Corps of Discovery and the Shoshoni.
    4. Why and how did Lewis lie to Cameahwait?
    5. Describe the communication process between Lewis and Clark and the Shoshoni.
    6. How did Lewis and Clark describe the Shoshoni?
    7. What did Lewis and Clark hope to get from the Shoshoni?
    8. What did the Shoshoni hope to get from Lewis and Clark?
    9. Describe the horse trading process between the Shoshoni and the Corps of Discovery.
    10. What role did the Nez Perce play for the Corps of Discovery?
    11. How did the Native diet affect Lewis and Clark?
    12. What signs showed Lewis and Clark that they were now within the Columbia River trading network?

    Chapter 7: Down the Columbia
    1. In what ways was the trip down the Columbia far different that anything previously experienced by the Corps of Discovery?
    2. What was the role of salmon in the Columbia River system?
    3. Describe the language problems that Lewis and Clark experienced on the Columbia.
    4. As the Corps descended the Columbia, what signs emerged of European trade?
    5. What role did the Dalles of the Columbia play in the trade network?
    6. Describe the different cultural views toward theft between the Corps of Discovery and Natives along the Columbia
    7. What role did the Corps of Discovery have in the United States' claim to Oregon?
    8. What was the Chinook Trade Jargon?
    9. Describe and explain Lewis and Clark's attitude toward Native Americans in the Northwest.
    10. Why did Lewis and Clark feel trapped at Ft. Clatsop?

    Chapter 8: The Clatsop Winter
    1. How did Lewis and Clark's goals change at Ft. Clatsop?
    2. Describe the different ways in which the local Native Americans and the Corps of Discovery perceived the Oregon coastline.
    3. What were the Chinookan's perceptions and expectations of Lewis of Clark?
    4. What were the main events for Lewis and Clark at Ft. Clatsop?
    5. Compare York's role at Ft. Clatsop to that at Ft. Mandan.
    6. Describe how Lewis and Clark's attitude toward Native Americans changed at Ft. Clatsop.
    7. Describe the Corps of Discovery's ethnographic record at Ft. Clatsop.
    8. Describe the "Estimate of Western Indians."
    9. Describe the role of sex during the Clatsop winter.
    10. Describe the "canoe incident" at Ft. Clatsop.
    11. Was the winter at Ft. Clatsop successful? Why or why not?

    Chapter 9: The Way Home
    1. What were the Corps of Discovery's goals for the return trip?
    2. What trade problems did Lewis and Clark have on the return trip?
    3. What examples are there of Lewis and Clark's growing frustrations?
    4. Why were the Nez Perce so willing to have "good hearts" toward the Corps of Discovery?
    5. Why did Lewis and Clark split up on their return trip through Montana?
    6. Describe Lewis' run-in with the Blackfeet and its significance.
    7. Why did Lewis and Clark's goals of inter-tribal peace threaten the Blackfeet?
    8. What did Lewis and Clark learn of their influence with the Plains Natives upon their return trip?
    9. Why did John Colter leave the Corps?
    10. Why did Lewis and Clark want to take an Indian delegate back home with them?
    11. Why was the Corps of Discovery able to make the return trip so much faster than they had made the trip west?

    Afterward and Appendix

    1. How were Native Americans active participants in the Corps of Discovery?
    2. Explain why Ronda suggests that Lewis and Clark understood neither river economics nor plains politics.
    3. Explain Ronda's views on the role of Sacagawea through history,

  • Connect to:

    An Index to Lewis and Clark Resources on the Web