second expedition

In 1803 the United States bought the Louisiana Purchase from the French.  President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their well known  expedition to find out just what exactly was in this huge expanse of land we had just bought.. They explored a lot of the northern part of the Purchase by making the journey to the Pacific coast and then back again to St. Louis.  Luis and Clark did a great job of mapping the geography, as well as recording the wildlife along the way. But Lewis and Clark stayed completely away from the southern boundary of the Purchase. Because of this, the government asked Lt. Zebulon Pike to finish what Luis and Clark had started.