Louisiana Purchase (1803) and Lewis and Clark — Four Perspectives

Show MG-2 with Louisiana Purchase territory highlighted. Ask: 'When the US bought Louisiana from France, did France OWN this land?' Listen to children's hypotheses.

• Affirm thinking
• Surface the misconception: France CLAIMED the land but had not lived on most of it; Indigenous nations had lived on the land since time immemorial and had not ceded it

Direct teach: 1803 Louisiana Purchase — US paid France ~$15M for France's CLAIM to ~828,000 square miles (about 14 future states). Critical framing: France could only sell its CLAIM; the actual land was home to dozens of Indigenous nations including Osage, Quapaw, Caddo, Wichita, Pawnee, Otoe-Missouria, Omaha, Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Blackfeet (all sovereign nations TODAY). Introduce Lewis and Clark expedition 1804–1806 from St. Louis to Pacific and back. Introduce 4 PERSPECTIVES: (1) Lewis & Clark journal authors; (2) Sacagawea — Lemhi Shoshone woman, 16, recently kidnapped from her people, traveling with newborn son Jean Baptiste — read Bruchac dual-voice excerpt; (3) York — William Clark's enslaved African American attendant who made the entire journey but was not freed until c.1815 — read 'The Journey of York' excerpt; (4) Mandan/Hidatsa/Lemhi Shoshone/Nez Perce host nations — read 'Buffalo Bird Girl' excerpt.

• Notice the perspective shift: Sacagawea was not 'helping the explorers find new land'; she was navigating her OWN people's homeland.

  model She was reunited with her brother Cameahwait, who was now the Lemhi Shoshone chief. She had been kidnapped from her own people years earlier. The expedition was on HER homeland — she was guiding them through land she knew.

  prompt When Sacagawea reached the Lemhi Shoshone in August 1805, what happened?

• Did France OWN the Louisiana territory?
• Who were the 4 perspectives of the Lewis and Clark expedition?
• What happened when Sacagawea reached the Lemhi Shoshone?

Apply Federal Archive Card MG-7 to Lewis and Clark journal excerpt: WHO made this (Lewis or Clark)? WHEN? WHY? Does Sacagawea's voice (via Bruchac) AGREE or DISAGREE? What words tell us most? WHOSE voice is silent in Lewis's journal?

M-4-S-HIS-04-A Map

Shows expedition route May 1804 to September 1806 with Indigenous-nation translucent overlay (14+ nations named). Portraits of Sacagawea and York in lower margins. Used during direct instruction and guided practice.

MG-9 Map

Lewis and Clark Expedition Route Map — May 1804 (St. Louis MO) to November 1805 (Pacific Ocean at the Columbia River mouth) and return September 1806. Shows the Missouri River route west through Mandan/Hidatsa villages (winter 1804–1805 Fort Mandan), across the Rockies via the Lemhi Pass (Sacagawea's homeland), down the Clearwater/Snake/Columbia rivers, to the Pacific (winter 1805–1806 Fort Clatsop). Translucent overlay shows the Indigenous nations whose homelands the expedition traversed: Otoe-Missouria, Omaha, Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Lemhi Shoshone, Salish, Nez Perce, Walla Walla, Yakama, Wishram, Chinook, Clatsop, Tillamook — ALL of which are sovereign nations TODAY. York's portrait (William Clark's enslaved African American attendant who made the whole journey) included in lower-right. Sacagawea's portrait, with infant Jean Baptiste, included in lower-left. Style: cartographic with overlay labels, four-perspective acknowledgment legend.

M-4-S-HIS-04-C Photograph

Photograph (sourced with Cherokee Nation permission) of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex in Tahlequah OK, current edition. Used to establish present-tense framing: Indigenous nations whose lands Lewis and Clark crossed are sovereign nations today (Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara at Fort Berthold ND; Lemhi Shoshone in ID; Nez Perce in ID).

• 4-perspective portrait sort: place 4 portrait cards (Lewis, Clark; Sacagawea; York; Hidatsa elder representing host nations) and add a 1-sentence quote from each perspective.

  scaffold Sentence frame: 'From [perspective]'s view, the expedition was ___'
• Map the expedition route on MG-9 with a fingertip, naming 5 Indigenous nations whose homelands the route crossed.

  scaffold Use MG-9 overlay; count nations as you trace.

M-4-S-HIS-04-B Diagram

MG-7 with 6 numbered boxes for child notes on journal excerpt: (1) WHO made this? Lewis or Clark; (2) WHEN/WHERE? 1804-1806, Missouri River; (3) WHY? to map western lands for US government; (4) AGREE/DISAGREE with Sacagawea voice (Bruchac)?; (5) Close-read one phrase; (6) WHOSE voice is silent? Cardstock format.

MG-7 Diagram

Federal Archive Card — child-adapted Wineburg 4-question + NMAI fifth-move primary-source analysis tool. 6 boxes: (1) WHO MADE THIS? (sourcing); (2) WHEN and WHERE? (contextualization); (3) WHY did they make it — what did they want the reader to think? (sourcing extended); (4) Does ANOTHER source AGREE or DISAGREE? (corroboration — name the other source); (5) WHAT exact words tell us most? (close reading — quote one phrase); (6) WHOSE VOICE is silent in this source, and what would they say? (NMAI 5th move). Used on every federal-archive lesson (4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18). Style: clean diagram with 6 numbered boxes on cardstock, large enough for child writing in boxes.

• Who were the 4 perspectives of the Lewis and Clark expedition?
• What is one Indigenous nation whose homeland the expedition crossed (and what nation IS that today)?

• Restate the 4-perspective frame
• Preview tomorrow's chronology-strip work covering 1803–1890

• Read OR have a caregiver read one page of Joseph Bruchac's 'Sacagawea' OR 'The Journey of York'. Record one new thing you learned in 2 sentences.