Explorers in the sort of interior west. So as i told you all last time, weve proceeding pretty chronologically up to this point. This lecture is going kind of spin us out onto a thematic topic. So were going to start right around Thomas Jefferson, who we left off talking about on monday, but were going to jump the way through forward to the usmexico war and the civil war. And so a lot of the topics were talking about today, theyre also going to come up in our future lectures. So just know that if you feel slightly unmoored when it comes to what time were in, im going to do my best to signpost, but just flag me down. Youre like, weve suddenly jumped 20 years. Thats going to happen today because its a more of a thematic topic. But what i really want us to get out of this is a deeper insight into this question. Weve been talking throughout the class, which is once you have an empire, how you exert control over it and how is the new us federal government, which we started to talk about on monday, going to control the interior west is going to be its kind of biggest problem. So well start here. Adam smith, pretty famous dude economist, right around 1776, just as the americans are starting to draft that declaration of independence. Thats going to set them to war with great britain. He writes this about the United States from shopkeepers tradesmen and attorneys. They are becoming statesmen and legislators and are employed and contriving a new form of government, an extensive empire which they flatter themselves, be common, which indeed seems very likely to become one of the greatest and formidable that ever was in the world. So smith is looking at the us from across the ocean and saying theyve got everything they need to be a great empire. If they pull revolution thing off and im part of that, he says, is this new form of government, this democracy, and that takes back to Frederick Jackson. Turner right. We talked this our second day of class. The idea the frontier and empire is tied to that democratic expanse. And so this is the kind of thing that washington and jefferson are thinking about. Theyre not afraid of empire and theyre going to pursue. So here well jump forward. I said to William Henry seward, so is kind of the period were going to cover, the 1776 to right up to the civil war William Henry seward, of course, famous, a man who wanted to be president , perhaps as much as only one or two other dudes in the whole country history, maybe only second to henry clay and how bad he wanted to president William Henry seward. This in a speech to congress in 1856 to obtain an empire is and common so of empires in the world. But he said to govern it well is difficult rare indeed. And hes talking in a period right much than what weve been talking about by which the United States has acquired essentially everything, including the gadsden purchase, that will become part of the modern u. S. And so seward is pointing to the same problem that. Adam smith alluded to this not an easy task to undertake. You have to find a way to control this territory and. You have to do it in a way thats fair and we talked about that tension last right. The washington and jefferson run into people who go to the frontier do not want a of intervention in their lives especially from government but the government must be the one that controls the frontier. So this is the kind of territory were talking about. And for the United States, 1783, when its only that little bit in green, theres a lot of knowledge this land out here that they dont have access to yet and someones going to have to go out and get that knowledge. William henry seward, of course, famous and most people remember him right from your ap us history class for being the dude the bottle asker and then got made fun of for the of his life. Sewards folly right so he was deeply invested in the idea of expansion, very famous painting right westward the course of empire takes its way painted the american civil war. It stands in the house of representatives in the National Capitol building. Its a massive fresco, 20 foot long fresco in the house of representatives, painted by emanuel. Lutz wanted. This painting to demonstrate the kind of principal characters involved in americas westward. As he understood it up to 1863. And its in line with what Frederick Jackson turner talks about right the buffalo, the indian, the fur trader, the hunter, the cattle raiser, the pioneer. These are the settlers of the frontier whos missing from this painting. What kind of character archetype. Can. Like that . Like a like a general type, a so a military officer, is that what like any kind of like politician or statesman, like anybody who is going make rules and like keep, like social norms in check, right . So were back to bureaucracy, right . But i dont think bureaucrats are popular subjects for paintings, but soldiers certainly are. And theyre missing here. And if you look at john or you look at guests, sort of famous painting of manifest destiny, american right, with the woman strain telegraph wires across the plains. Also, no soldiers in that painting. Its really interesting that soldiers are left out here when theyre a critical of this imperial. But just note that Frederick Jackson turner also doesnt list the army soldiers. And so we kind of have to ask ourselves why that is. They were so critical. Ill also note its a great fact to pull out this painting is First Painting that ever hangs in the us capitol to feature an africanamerican subject. And you can see him there down along bottom between the horse and the cow the young africanamerican boy there. So the first black individual to be portrayed in a painting in the capitol building. So its really interesting. Its a Progressive Painting in many ways, but its also missing something so so why the army there . What is the problem for people like lets gast . I mean, anyone whos thinking about how the americans are going to onto the frontier. Well the best institution do it and the most equipped in terms of having bureau craddick support organization being well funded and having the knowledge undertake this process is the United States absolutely problem is. Nobody likes the army because standing armies are not really in concordance with the values of the new and young United States and what the United States is facing as it drafts the constitution. And theres a massive over whether or not the country should have an army at all and many think that its dangerous because standing can get angry and upset. And if you get somebody in charge of them whos not responsible like, a Julius Caesar or an oliver cromwell, a napoleon, they might over your democracy. And thats not what you want to happen. And so the u. S. Is in this really interesting position and they have a massive frontier that they are trying to subdue. As we talked about last time, have a huge number of threats, really, really powerful native american, confederacys that are much more militarily equipped than the new United States. But they dont want to have a very army. So theyre going to do some very interesting things with that army to make it fit within americas democratic system and our system of government. So to justify having an army at all needed a job, especially when the nation was not at war and the us isnt at war most of the time. So they need to give the soldiers something to do so that if there is a crisis or the country go to war, you have at least a small army ready to train and equip the volunteer years that youll draw from the militia. But you dont want them to be too powerful or too ready to go to war. They might be a threat. So they settle on science. Its really interesting. The 19th century army and especially army prior to the civil war is army of exploration. They fight a few wars that we might about, but in reality even when they are fighting those wars, they are talking about scientific expeditions and gathering to a great and so the Principal Institution for soldiers along this Scientific Method is west point which is founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1802. He creates the National Academy at west point on the banks of the hudson river in new york, jefferson of course, the most notorious of the early president s hating the national military. He did write many letters about trying to get rid of the military altogether. And then when he finally sat down and about it, he said, no, we really do need them in case we go to war, but lets keep them trained and by the federal government. Lets make sure that we keep them under control. And so they didnt want to have to rely foreigners as they had during the revolution theyre also drawing this lesson forward in the us kind revolution against great britain. A lot of the military engineering, a lot of the heaviest kind work to actually build fortifications and protect the army had been done by so jefferson says, why dont we create an institution that is able to train american men to do same job in a very scientific standardized way so Jefferson Military Academy henry adams is one of the many sort american adams is doubled the capacity of the Little American army for resistance and introduce the new and scientific character into american life. I always like to here. West point is a wonderful. Founded by Thomas Jefferson. He founded a much Better University called the universal virginia. So the the west point is the Second Best University founded by jefferson. Thats fine. Not a competition, but it is. And here we have west point. But an interesting between the two institutions, jefferson wants them to be scientific in their character jefferson is not interested in imparting religious education. Right many of our Early University were founded to train ministers places harvard and yale divinity schools. Jefferson wants science, wants knowledge. He wants humanistic pursuits. And so a young man who goes to west point becomes one of the best trained engineers in the country at this period, at this point, they take a five year course. They do science, they do languages they do literature. They do watercolor, they do horsemanship. What havent i mentioned . They learn tactics until their fifth year, right . Its four years of wellrounded scientific education and, then a fifth year where you actually learn how to be a soldier just in case it might come. But in reality, theyre being trained as engineers. And so if you wanted to an engineer, you wanted to go west point and then at west point, if you really distinguish yourself, you would not be put in infantry or the artillery regiments of the army. Youd be put in the engineering corps, which was far the most prestigious arm of the American Army in this period. So there you have west point. They have a portrait of Thomas Jefferson hanging there, which i think would make Thomas Jefferson smile as he really distrusted the military. Yeah. Was there a question . Excellent. Please shut them up. Jefferson. At the same time, he creates west point, creates a military peace. So this is their compromise. They have to put in place protection to make sure that the army does not become a threat to the federal government and in that act, that establishes west Point Jefferson also directs a corps of engineers be established as of the United States army to train loyal expert engineers and so that they didnt have to employ engineers from those foreign lands. And this is the the patch of the Army Engineers to this day. So if you see soldier with this patch, his uniform, he is an army and Army Engineers have been and always be critical to a kind of americas military missions, whether in time of war, in time of peace, Army Engineers, im going to talk about exploring today, but they also build bridges, reroute rivers, help to survey and platte. They basically make the infrastructure of the early republic possible because they are the best trained engineers the country. And so the army is responsible for a lot the development that we see even on the east coast, which is not the subject right out of our class, but also on the frontier. And so if you ever drive across a bridge or a ford, a river anywhere in the west, you probably count on the fact that the army got there first and built whatever the original fortification was. They build lots of forts. So anywhere youve been in texas with the name fort in the title, thats these guys, right, including our neighboring city to, the west fort worth. Right. So what really kicks off the age of army exploration, you have this corps of trained guys. They were really good at science, really good at engineering. Remember, i even talked about George Washington as much as he was soldier. He was also a surveyor. These things kind of go hand in hand. Well, Thomas Jefferson. And he as hes of coming up with the idea for west point and the idea for this train corps of engineers. Also is talking to a little guy, no offense named napoleon about this. Louisa can a territory that exists to the west of the limits of american expansion right to the west of the Mississippi River. Remember wed had that proclamation line of 1763 and the americans very quickly been like, yeah, were going past by this point. They reached the mississippi saint louis is becoming a prominent river town. Remember that at end of the revolution, the british and, the americans agreed to unimpeded of the mississippi. They would share that river. Well, france is on the other side and france is in possession. This territory of louisiana, which basically hugs the mississippi from its headwaters in minnesota to where it discharges in the gulf of mexico, at the city of, new orleans and france wants to get rid of it. It is bogged down in a series of wars. The european continent. France doesnt have the or bureaucratic capacity to continue to administer. Louisiana. And so they say to thomas, you want some land . And jefferson says, absolutely, i would love some land. There could be a lot of good stuff out there that this new country could use. There could be a lot of really interesting to be gained from going and exploring this place. All louisiana territory, you, napoleon and all ad 828,000 square miles of territory to the United States doubling in effect in one sort of purchase the entire extent of the country including a little bit of part of canada that got settled later and and maybe florida. Jefferson right. As ive already told you all, is truly going to insist that the Louisiana Purchase included florida, spain and france both going to be like, we dont really think. So Andrew Jacksons going to go ahead and go take florida in 18 teens in what becomes known as the first seminole war so its going hang in the balance but jefferson thinks hes one that as well florida is important for a number of reasons, but mainly because of its access to the caribbean. So napoleon, us, louisiana territory per the revolution in haiti is his mind his new world colonies are collapsing and he decides to offload this territory. And so jefferson now has a question to answer. What did he get when he bought this territory of the United States knows orleans pretty well and he knows thats an important its, of course the dumbest place you could ever build a city. But they went ahead and did it. So we have to work with what we got. They know new orleans is important and vital the entire Mississippi River has the potential to become a trade artery that is unrivaled in the United States and. Jefferson also knows theres a tributary of the mississippi called the Missouri River that is, in fact, seems equally important. And prospects sort of augur well. Right, for the new United States. And so he especially wants that Missouri River tributary explored and he decides to send an expedition to do it. Thats headed by not professional soldiers. Lewis and clark are the explorers. Were going to talk about who are not professionally trained west point guys. Im going to get to them toward the and end of the lecture. But they are military veterans. They have militia ranks and. Theyre going to run the corps of like a military expedition. And heres what jefferson is going to talk them about. Yeah, thats going to last on the other screen. You okay . So Thomas Jefferson, he he said that we had florida is that it was did everyone know that we have people coming down going into florida even though it really wasnt ours at all . Yeah, we absolutely. There are planters that are moving down into there and its also haven for runaway enslaved they go into to florida to become maroons amongst seminoles. So we have a vested interest in it. Yeah. So when its absorbed into the u. S. , how french people are actually living there at that time in louisiana, thats a good i dont know the exact number. Not a ton. France really administered these as kind of trading colonies, so they would have had sort of french explorers and they would have been allowed to kind of stay and continue to explore. They just be absorbed into the u. S. And become american citi