Dayton Duncan gave a lecture titled "How Lewis and Clark Wrote Their Way Across America, and Into Immortality" on March 4 to students in Sophomore Seminar 295: "On The Trail of Lewis and Clark" and other members of the Hamilton community. Duncan is the author of several books on the journey of Lewis and Clark, including Out West: A Journey Through Lewis & Clark's America, a book which students read in the Sophomore Seminar. In Out West, Duncan describes his travel along the trail of Lewis and Clark, a trip the students of the Sophomore Seminar class will make later this year. Duncan's lecture focused on how the Lewis and Clark expedition's dedication to writing has helped to create their legacy.
Duncan said that while Lewis and Clark would certainly be prominent historical figures with or without their journals, their cultural significance comes from our ability to look at their journals today and understand their journey across the continent. By reading their words, we are able to see the West as it was at the turn of the 19th century and experience their joy and wonder at seeing lands and animals that no white man had ever seen before.
What is it about the Lewis and Clark expedition that captures the American imagination? Duncan attributed it partly to the amazing cast of characters who went on the journey. This cast included the emotionally troubled Meriweather Lewis, "the rudder of the expedition" William Clark, Clark's slave York, the famous Sacajewea, a Newfoundland dog, numerous army officers and enlisted men, and the Native Americans they met on the journey. Another character in the story of the expedition is Thomas Jefferson, who Lewis referred to as "the author of our enterprise." Jefferson was the visionary behind the journey, and also contributed to American expansion into the West with the Louisiana Purchase.
The journey was also important to science, as the meticulous journals kept by expedition members described new plants, animals and terrain for future explorers. The journals also describe what Lewis called "scenes of visionary enchantment," many of which no longer exist today as the expedition would have seen them. Duncan said, however, that we can still imagine and appreciate the pristine landscape by reading the journals.
Overall, Duncan said, the journals of Lewis and Clark simply tell a great story about the beginnings of our nation's Western odyssey. Road trips hold a special place in the American psyche, and the journey of Lewis and Clark is the ultimate cross-country road trip, traveling across an untamed continent at twelve miles a day. The members of the expedition are examples of courage and perseverance in the face of adversity, and of success through teamwork. "Lewis and Clark at their best was America at its best," said Duncan. Today, we can still follow their trail, seek to protect the beauty they saw and honor the promises they made. Duncan encouraged the students who will be traveling the Lewis and Clark trail to keep their own journals and continue the tradition of writing on the journey.
The lecture was sponsored by Sophomore Seminar 295: "On The Trail of Lewis and Clark," as well as the History Department, the Dean of Faculty, the Office of the President, and the Writing Center.
