Summary Of Haunted Courage

“Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” is a biography of American explorer Meriwether Lewis, written by Stephen Ambrose and published in 1996. The biography is supported by historic texts (letters and logs produced by Jefferson, Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery members – some of which appear in the book) and outlines the trials and triumphs of the Corps of Discovery Expedition (also commonly known as the “Lewis and Clark Expedition” – which was the first American mission crossing western North America from St. Louis all the way through the continental divide and to the pacific coast). Ambrose provides some context by also writing about Lewis’s youth, his career as a planter and assistant
They led and protected a diverse group of individuals (including military veterans, a Native American woman with a baby) through arduous, uncharted territory over a two-year period. Undaunted Courage details the route, scientific discoveries and landscapes endured by the travelers. Incontrovertibly, the main theme exemplified by the book is the innovation and exploration of the American spirit. At the start of the 19th century, American culture prided itself on its pioneering nature. Ambrose writes, “The Enlightenment taught that observation unrecorded was knowledge lost” (p. 1242). In this way, he suggests the nobility and profound responsibility of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Not only did they have the mission of acquiring scientific and geographical knowledge concerning the latter unchartered half of the North American continent, but they also facilitated the solution for growing societal nationalistic beliefs that manifested in many Americans believing that their country should expand. Ambrose uses hyperbole and a prominently patriotic narrative in describing the discovery of the mission: “That evening, the first Americans ever to enter Montana, the first ever to see the Yellowstone, the Milk, the Marias, and the Great Falls, the first Americans ever to kill a grizzly, celebrated their nation’s twenty-ninth birthday” (p. 720).
It is true that in conceptualizing and orchestrating the expedition, Jefferson ensured that the American presence in North America would not be disturbed by European forces or British intentions. The intelligence of Jefferson is thus undeniably presented to the reader in the novel through his depiction as the orchestrator of the