Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online

I just discovered that the journals of Lewis and Clark are available for free online. This edition is the edited edition from Gary E. Moulton. It is considered one the most accurate and complete editions of the journals. I read this version a few years ago in hard copy and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt like I was there with Lewis and Clark, living their moments. The journals reveal things we have forgotten or that are not taught in school.

Sacajawea
Sacajawea was not technically their guide - her husband was. And she was forced to go on the journey by her husband who was paid by Lewis and Clark. It was sheer luck that she was there since it turned out that her husband had a rotten sense of direction. She wasn't leading them to be nice; she was leading them for the sheer purpose of survival. And it was also lucky that she was there because they traversed through the lands of her family tribe who would not have been as friendly to the travelers had they not had Sacajawea with them. Lewis or Clark (I cannot remember which one because it has been awhile since I read these) was appalled by how her husband treated her.

Voting Rights
Another interesting fact was that this expedition is the first record in American history where a black man and a woman were included in the democratic process of voting. Whenever the traveling group needed to make a big decision they voted on it and votes from both their black servant and Sacajawea were included.

Dictionaries and Grammar
What really hit me when I was reading the journals was a deep appreciation for dictionaries and for basic rules of

grammar. Before we had dictionaries, there was no common agreement on how to spell words and people just gave it their best shot. In the journals "moccasins" is spelled several different ways; "moccasons," "mockersons," "mockasins," etc... Read these journals and imagine if everything today was constructed in such a way. You may better understand the cries of outrage regarding misspellings, bad grammar, and the general decline of the proper use of the English language.

Appreciation

A big shout out of appreciation should go out to the Center for Great Plains Studies, the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities in the UNL Libraries, and the University of Nebraska Press for making access to this incredible piece of American history freely available and accessible to all.