Document 1: Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Meriwether Lewis (June 20th 1803)
The commerce and governing which may be carried on with the Natives you encounter requires a knowledge of those people….You will therefore strive to make yourself acquainted, as far as a careful and thorough pursuit of your journey shall admit, with the names of the nations and their numbers; the extent and limits of their possessions; their relations with other tribes of nations; their language, traditions, monuments, their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts, and the implements for these; their food, clothing, and domestic accommodations; the diseases prevalent among them, and the remedies they use; moral and physical circumstances which distinguish them from the tribes we know; peculiarities in their laws, customs and dispositions; and articles of commerce they may need or furnish, and to what extent...

And, considering the interest which every nation has in extending and strengthening the authority of reason and justice among the people around them, it will be useful to acquire what knowledge you can of the state of morality, religion, and information among them; as it may better enable those who endeavor to civilize and instruct them in the future...

In all your interactions with the natives, treat them in the most friendly and peaceful manner which their own conduct will admit; reduce all fears as to the object of your journey, satisfy them of its innocence, make them acquainted with the position, extent, character, peaceable and commercial dispositions of the U.S. of our wish to be neighborly, friendly and useful to them, and of our dispositions to an economic partnership with them; consult with them on the points most convenient as mutual economic gains….






Analysis: Many historians describe the American relationship to Native Americans as “paternalistic”, meaning that America positioned itself as the “father” of the Native Americans, who were “children” that had to be “civilized”. Does President Jefferson seem to express this viewpoint? Cite evidence from the text to support your claims.