February
2-8, 1803 Jefferson Sends Lewis to Study
with
Benjamin Smith Barton in Philadelphia
In February of 1803 President Jefferson began
to arrange a program of instruction for Meriwether Lewis in
the various sciences he would need to master before embarking
on the the exploration of the West. The President made a choice
of five scholars, all leaders in their fields, to instruct
Lewis in details of mathematics, astronomy and surveying,
in botany and the identification of species, in mineralogy,
and in medicine. The five chosen instructors were prominent
in Philadelphia’s scientific community, and were all
fellow-members, with Jefferson, of the American Philosophical
Society, based in Philadelphia. The five men, Benjamin Smith
Barton, Benjamin Rush, Caspar Wistar, Andrew Ellicott, and
Robert Patterson, had much in common, in addition to their
scientific studies.
Benjamin Smith Barton from the University
of Pennsylvania Library.
Not surprisingly, in a city with a strong Quaker heritage,
a number of them were opponents of slavery—in particular
Rush and Wistar, both presidents of the Abolition Society.
These five scientists, in addition to their specialties, also
had wide intellectual interests, for example in paleontology
and other aspects of the natural history of America, and two
of them (Barton and Wistar) made special studies of native
American languages and culture. As a group, these men were
well chosen to encourage Lewis in his scientific and anthropological
studies on the expedition.
The first of the tutors to be contacted was Benjamin Smith
Barton (1766-1815), natural scientist, and professor at the
University of Pennsylvania. Barton, the nephew of the astronomer
and mathematician David Rittenhouse (1732-1796), Philadelphia’s
greatest scientist after Franklin, was the author of the first
botany text published in America, Elements of Botany
(1803). After the return of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,
Barton was chosen to write the third (scientific) volume of
the official record of the expedition, eventually edited by
Nicholas Biddle and completed by Paul Allen. He was, however,
plagued by chronic ill health, and this volume joined a number
of other unfinished projects. The two Biddle-Allen volumes
(based on the journals of the expedition members) appeared
in 1814, and Barton’s assistant Frederick Pursh (1774-1820)
published the first taxonomy of the plants of North America,
Flora Americae Septentrionalis, in England in the same
year. This volume described more than three thousand species
in almost five hundred genera, including over a hundred first
collected on the Expedition, among them the genera Lewisia
and Clarkia.
The following letter from Jefferson to Barton indicates the
scientific skills that would be needed on the expedition.
Dear Sir Washington Feb. 27.
1803
I inclose you a copy of two discourses sent to you by Mr.
La Cepede through the hands of Mr. Paine, who delivered them
with some sent me. What follows in this letter is strictly
confidential. You know we have been many years wishing to
have the Missouri explored & whatever river, heading with
that, runs into the Western ocean. Congress, in some secret
proceedings, have yielded to a proposition I made them for
permitting me to have it done: it is to be undertaken immediately,
with a party of about ten, & I have appointed Capt. Lewis,
my secretary, to conduct it. It was impossible to find a character
who to a compleat science in botany, natural history, mineralogy
& astronomy, joined the firmness of constitution &
character, prudence, habits adapted to the woods, & a
familiarity with the Indian manners & character, requisite
for this undertaking. All the latter qualifications Capt.
Lewis has. Altho’ no regular botanist &c. he possesses
a remarkable store of accurate observation on all the subjects
of the three kingdoms [zoology, botany, and mineralogy], &
will therefore readily single out whatever presents itself
new to him in either: and he has qualified himself for taking
these observations of longitude & latitude necessary to
fix the geography of the line he passes through. In order
to draw his attention at once to the objects most desirable,
I must ask the favor of you to prepare for him a note of those
in the lines of botany, zoology, or of Indian history which
you think most worthy of inquiry & observation. He will
be with you in Philadelphia in two or three weeks, & will
wait on you, and receive thankfully on paper, and any verbal
communications which you may be so good as to make to him.
I make no apology for this trouble, because I know that the
same wish to promote science which has induced me to bring
forward this proposition, will induce you to aid in promoting
it. Accept assurances of my friendly esteem & high respect.
