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Lewis And Clark Dbq Analysis

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The relationship between Lewis and Clark and the Native Americans is an extremely controversial topic. It is generally in question whether Lewis and Clark were respectful to the Indian tribes they encountered on their expedition. The answer is much more complicated than a simple yes or no, and the answer changes through each person’s opinion. From multiple pieces of evidence, I believe that Lewis and Clark were mostly disrespectful to the Indians with a few exceptions. The evidence for this position come from: a passage of a letter from Jefferson(document A), a diary entry of Meriwether Lewis(document B), a modified Time Magazine article(document C), and Lewis’s speech to the Otoe(document E). These documents help to support the notion that …show more content…

Document C is a TIme Magazine article with oral reports from American Indians about how the indians were treated by Lewis and Clark. It seems as if “fake” respect was a theme throughout Lewis and Clark’s expedition. This document explains that all of the stories most people hear about the relationship between the indians and Lewis and Clark are from their personal journals which are clearly biased. Ben Sherman, the president of the Western American Indian Chamber in Denver explains that the journal entries portray Clark as a well-meaning protector of the indians, but this is truly propaganda. Also, some historians argue that Jefferson’s land-grab policy may have directly caused cultural genocide, not to mention most of the tribes Lewis and Clark encountered had to be relocated away from the rivers they once lived. This document really goes to show that Clark was looking out to make himself look good even in his personal journal, but according to the opposite side, they were not good to the Native Americans whatsoever. Document E is another controversial one, it is Lewis’s speech to the Otoe tribe that they had a new president, named Thomas Jefferson. He had called the Otoe people children, which is a completely disrespectful term. Calling them children likely signifies that Lewis felt as if he were above them and that he was more intelligent and deserved more respect than them. Both of these documents show disrespect conducted by Lewis and

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