Throughout the history of America being discovered and settled, the Indians have had much difficulty sustaining the changes. Some Indian tribes were able to get along with the Americans, while other Indian tribes were not. This is also true for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The expedition was able to maintain good relations with most of the Indians. "The winter spent with the Mandans demonstrated the capacity of one group of humans to coexist harmoniously with another" (Calloway, 230).
One reason on why Lewis and Clark knew that they needed to maintain good relations with the Indians was food and shelter. This was found true throughout the Mandan villages. "In Mandan lodges, they found shelter fro winter on the northern plains and corn to get them through the season" (Calloway, 228).
The most important reason on why Lewis and Clark needed to maintain good relations with the Indians was due to the fact that "the vast territory that lay roughly between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains was not American, French, or Spanish, although those nations passed claim to it among themselves.
The western trail of Lewis and Clark's exploration...
English: Reconstruction of Fort Mandan, Lewis & Cl...
English: U.S. Postage: Lewis and Clark Expedition,...It was Indian country" (Calloway, 225). Therefore, since this land that Lewis and Clark were going to travel through was inhabited by Indians, peace needed to be kept between them. The Lewis and Clark expedition "would have to travel through Indian country, deal with Indian tribes, and develop a working knowledge of Indian politics" (Calloway, 225).
In order for Lewis and Clark to maintain peace and good relations with the Indians, the explorers had to carry "flags and gifts to present to Indian chiefs; they met and smoked with Indians in council after council, proclaiming the new era of peace and prosperity that would surely come to the Indians now that their land "belonged" to the Great...