Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery

Introduction

Imagine you have just received a letter from Thomas Jefferson inviting you to go on “the greatest camping trip” of all time. You have been invited to join the Corps of Discovery. You are going to join Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in traveling from St. Louis, Missouri to the west coast of America. President Thomas Jefferson has just bought the Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million and believes there may be a Northwest Passage through America that would help ships get from the east coast to the west coast in a shorter amount of time.

You are excited to travel all the way from the east of America to the west coast with a group of men called the Corps of Discovery. Your mission is to try to discover more about the land and Native American people you meet. You will be traveling into Native American land so you and your friends don’t know what to expect. You have spent the winter in St. Louis gathering your supplies. Now you are ready to set off on your journey of discovery.

After completing this webquest you will create a 6-8 slide KeyNote presentation that answers the following questions.

The 1800’s were a time for expansion in the United States. Native Americans believed that land was to be used by all people and that no one owned the land. Why did Thomas Jefferson send the Corps of Discovery into Native American land? Did he have the right to send them into Native American land?

Task

You will work to gather the information you need from this web quest. You will use the information you find to plan, then create a Keynote and present it to an audience. You must use the links provide under "Credits" to complete your research.

Process

#1 Identify the Problem

The problem was that Lewis and Clark were asked to explore the Louisiana Purchase. This was land that was west of St. Louis, Missouri and it belonged to the Native Americans.

#2 Gather the Evidence

How do you know that Lewis and Clark’s journey was a problem for some of the Native Americans they met? What was written about them in the journals?

#3 Determine the Causes

List and describe the reasons why Thomas Jefferson wanted Lewis and Clark to explore this territory.

#4 Evaluate the Policy

Describe Lewis and Clark’s trip and what they found. Evaluate whether the policy of exploring the Louisiana Purchase should have been done or not.

#5 Create a 6-8 slide Keynote presentation

Create a presentation that either defends or critiques President Jefferson’s decision to buy the Louisiana Purchase and to send Lewis and Clark and their men across the United States into Native American land.

Your slide presentation should contain a relevant picture on each slide and be set up like this:

Slide 1 Title of your presentation, picture, your name, grade and class period:

e.g. Lewis and Clark and the Greatest Camping Trip of all Time by Wendy Ballard, 8th grade, 6th period

Slide 2 – Answer the following questions:

Why did Thomas Jefferson send the Corps of Discovery into Native American land? Did he have the right to send them into Native American land?

e.g I think Thomas Jefferson did have the right to send the Crops of Discovery into Native American land because…

I think Thomas Jefferson did not have the right to send the Crops of Discovery into Native American land because…

Slide 3- put in information you have found to prove you are right

Slide 4- put in information you have found to prove you are right

Slide 5- put in information you have found to prove you are right

Slide 6- put in information you have found to prove you are right

Slide 7- put in any additional information that also connects to your research (primary or secondary sources)

Slide 8- put in any additional information that connects to your research (primary or secondary sources)

Evaluation

Your work will be assessed using the following rubric:

Task	4	3	2	1
Keynote presentation	Keynote presentation fully answers the task question	Keynote presentation somewhat answers the task question.	Keynote presentation vaguely answers the task question.	Keynote presentation does not answer the task question.
Primary sources	At lease 2 primary source documents are used and there is an explanation of these documents.	One primary source document is used and there is an explanation about that document.	Either a primary source document is missing or an explanation is missing	No primary source documents are used. There is no explanation.
Grammar/ spelling	Each slide has correct grammar and spelling.	There are a few spelling/ grammatical errors.	There are many spelling or grammatical errors.	There are many spelling and grammatical errors.
Speaking skills	Presentor is prepared and presents the Keynote presentation. ( Notes are evident)	Presentor is not fully prepared to present. (Only a few have notes)	Presentor is not prepared. ( There are no notes)	The Keynote presentation is not complete./ The presentor is not prepared to speak.