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Expedition

1806

the command of his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark, a younger brother of the more famous George Rogers Clark. They left St. Louis in May, 1804, of Lewis and and proceeding with difficulty up the Missouri Clark, 1804- River spent the first winter in camp at Mandan, near the present site of Bismarck, North Dakota. Setting out again as early as the season would permit, they reached the falls of the Missouri, where they left their boats and heavier supplies, and after great suffering and privation they finally succeeded in crossing the continental divide and made their way down the Columbia River to the Pacific, which they sighted November 7, 1805. Failing to meet any of the trading vessels that annually visited this coast, they spent the winter at the mouth of the Columbia and in March started on the return journey. They arrived at St. Louis in September, 1806.

This was the first recorded journey ever made across the continent, and the expedition was the basis of our later claim to the Oregon country. The journal of Lewis and Clark is one of the most fascinating records of adventure ever published. Before the return of Lewis and Clark Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike set out on a similar expedition to the Southwest. He explored the mountains of Colorado and marched south to the Rio Grande, where he fell into the hands of the Spaniards, but was escorted to the American frontier and released.

Reelection

Jefferson's first administration was an unqualified success and met with such widespread approbation that he was reëlected with little opposition. The Federalist of Jefferson, candidates, C. C. Pinckney and Rufus King, re1804 ceived only 14 electoral votes, while Jefferson and George Clinton received 162. But Jefferson's triumphs were over. His second administration was clouded by factional fights in his own party and by outrageous depredations on American commerce by both England and France, which he was unable to prevent or to avenge.

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In 1800 the Republicans had been united, but now the breach between John Randolph and Madison caused Jefferson much uneasiness. Randolph had begun his open attack on Madison in 1803 when he opposed a bill advocated by the latter, which provided for the payment of the Yazoo claims. Before surrendering to the Federal government her claims to Mississippi,

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Georgia had made conflicting grants of lands on the Yazoo, and some of the claimants now tried to get Congress to compensate them. Randolph, who was now at the height of his power, poured forth the vitriol of his wrath against Madison and other advocates of the Yazoo bill, and for years prevented its passage. Madison was, however, backed by President Jefferson. The political result was that

ROBERT FULTON.

Randolph's friend Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, was defeated for the speakership, which he had held for years, and Randolph was removed from the chairmanship of the committee on ways and means.

In July, 1804, Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Already discredited by the Republican party, he was now generally regarded with abhorrence and his The Burr political future seemed ruined. Returning to conspiracy, Washington he continued to preside over the 1806 Senate until the expiration of his term March 4, 1805, after which he traveled extensively through the West.

The following year Burr began collecting men and supplies on an island in the Ohio River owned by an eccentric Irishman named Blennerhassett, and later proceeded down the Mississippi with an armed expedition. What his real purpose was has never been satisfactorily explained. To many of his supporters in the West he represented it as an attack on Mexico; to British and Spanish officials he declared his intention of wresting Louisiana from the Union and organizing a new government in the Southwest, but neither of these powers would give him the aid he solicited. At Natchez the expedition was stopped by the commander of the garrison and Burr was later tried for treason before the United States Circuit Court sitting at Richmond. Chief Justice Marshall presided at the trial and John Randolph was foreman of the jury. In spite of Jefferson's efforts to secure a conviction Burr was acquitted. Burr lived abroad for several years, and then returned to New York, where he died in obscurity in 1836.

TOPICAL REFERENCES

1. The Breach with France: Woodrow Wilson, History of the American People, Vol. III, pp. 145–152; Schouler, Vol. I, pp. 351– 389; McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 367-388; Channing, Vol. IV, pp. 181-209; Bassett, Chaps. XV, XVI; E. S. Maclay, History of the Navy, Vol. I, pp. 155–213; A. J. Beveridge, Life of John Marshall, Vol. II, Chaps. VI-VIII.

2. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 389-403, 418-427; Schouler, Vol. I, pp. 392-425; Wilson, Vol. III, pp. 153-158; Channing, Vol. IV, pp. 219-229; Bassett, Chaps. XVII, XVIII.

3. Thomas Jefferson and the Republican Revolution: Channing, Vol. IV, Chap. IX; Wilson, Vol. III, pp. 161-177; Schouler, Thomas Jefferson; John Sharp Williams, Thomas Jefferson.

4. The War with Tripoli: McMaster, Vol. II, pp. 588-602; Channing, Jeffersonian System, Chap. III; Maclay, History of the Navy, Vol. I, pp. 214-302.

5. The Louisiana Purchase: Channing, Jeffersonian System,

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