The Lewis and Clark Expedition

The value to the fledgling United States of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore it cannot be overstated. It doubled the size of the country and guaranteed that the United States would be the dominant country of the North American continent. Had the purchase not been made and Great Britain managed to take control of that vast territory, Canada would have hemmed in the United States and the U.S. A. almost certainly would never have attained the status of a superpower. In an effective and colorful way, Quiri manages to capture the trials and tribulations that the expedition faced as they moved into largely unknown and uncharted territory. The winters and terrain were harsh, had the native tribes not aided them, every member of the expedition would have perished. No study of the history of the United States is complete without the inclusion of the Louisiana Purchase and this book is a sound resource at the level of the elementary school.