1801 Having tried three times before to send expeditions across the continent, President Thomas Jefferson decided to try once more. Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis to become his personal secretary and help plan for the expedition of the west. 1803 Spring: Lewis was chosen as the commander of this expedition of the west and was sent to Philadelphia for instructions on what to look for and how to record his information and findings. Lewis has also begun to …showed first 75 words of 872 total…

…showed last 75 words of 872 total…had married Julia "Judith" Hancock, for whom he named a river in Montana; been respected as Indian agent (Native Americans called St. Louis the "Red-Headed Chief's Town"); successful in business; and several times appointed governor of the Missouri Territory (though he lost the first election to be the new state's governor, after being accused of being too "soft" on Indians). On this date he dies at the home of his eldest son, Meriwether Lewis Clark.