Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/7



VI.]

It is proposed in this paper to call attention to the subjective side of the Lewis and Clark exploration—to the real nature of the project when first conceived and the wider motives associated with it. The spirit and aims of him who long fostered such an undertaking, who brought it to realization, and who controlled the execution of it will be inquired into. The thought and purposes with which the idea of this enterprise was bound up in the mind and heart of Thomas Jefferson will be pointed out.

We shall find the idea of the exploration of this continent one deeply cherished by him because it fitted in as an essential condition for the attainment of the leading aims of his life. It was an integral part of them; and if ever there was a mind in which there was perfect unity and consistency and organic correlation of ideas along with widest interests, that mind was Thomas Jefferson's. His was the spacious design of a continent to be kept inviolate for American freedom, equality, and enlightenment; and his plan for transcontinental exploration was part