In the Wake of Lewis and Clark: The Expedition and the Making of Antebellum America by Larry E. Morris

Abstract

102 OHQ vol. 121, no. 1 bodies, and disease. Restrained manhood of eastern climes held that hard work and application led to success and made one a man, and that one’s appearance was key to understanding one’s character. Both came into question in the chaotic atmosphere of the gold rushes. Accordingly , real manhood had to be recalibrated and often was done so at the expense of racial “others ,” namely Blacks, Indians, and Chinese, whom White men used for comparative purposes. Gold Rush Manliness is a welcome addition to the still nascent field of masculinity studies. Packed with useful observations about midnineteenth -century manliness, race history, and the relationship between different western rushes, the book is written in an engaging and jargon-free style and is useful to undergraduate and graduate students as well as lay readers. Future studies of manliness in other major nineteenth-century rushes, such as those in Colorado, Idaho, Alaska, Australia and even the earlier rush back East in Georgia, where some of California’s miners cut their teeth, may test some of Herbert’s major conclusions. Peter Boag Washington State University-Vancouver IN THE WAKE OF LEWIS AND CLARK: THE EXPEDITION AND THE MAKING OF ANTEBELLUM AMERICA by Larry E. Morris Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2019. Illustrations. notes, bibliography, index. 235 pages. $39.00 cloth. In 1931, Leslie M. Scott wrote an article for this journal that laid out an argument for the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s crucial and connective role in extending the nation into the Pacific Northwest. He quoted Elliot M. Coues’s dedication to his 1893 multi-volume overview of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: Jefferson gave you the country. Lewis and Clark showed you the way. The rest is your own course of empire. Honor the statesman who foresaw your west! Honor the brave men who first saw your west! May the recollection of their glorious achievements be your precious heritage (Coues, Lewis and Clark, I, iii). That triumphalist interpretation of the consequences of the Lewis and Clark Expedition has not survived recent scholarship, but it is true that the leaders of the Corps of Discovery and some expedition members contributed to the American penetration of the Trans-Mississippi West during the first half of the nineteenth century. In the Wake of Lewis and Clark author Larry E. Morris stays clear of Coues’s and Scott’s interpretations , but he underscores the significant baseline of knowledge about the American West the expedition rendered, perhaps best seen in William Clark’s extraordinary map of the Missouri and Columbia rivers he completed in 1810. He agrees with other historians who have emphasized the importance of the expedition’s role in revealing the landscape and the feasibility of travel across the continent from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific slope. Morris directs readers’ attention to the exploits of specific expedition personnel in developing economic and political structures in the Trans-Mississippi West. In six discursive chapters, the author details some of the consequences of the suicide of Meriwether Lewis in 1809, covers the overland expedition of John J. Astor’s Pacific Fur Company in 1811–1812, ties the outbreak of the War of 1812 and campaigns to the West, describes the organization and exploits of the Rocky Mountain fur trade during the 1820s, and comments on the western adventure of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in establishing their Zion in Utah. Readers familiar with these major developments in the history of the American West will recognize nearly all the individuals and events that Morris highlights. The connections to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, however, are often fleeting, and it is unclear how the expedition directly influenced the enumerated events and what should be made of the author’s suggested linkages. The author does not advance a singular interpretation or argue for a comprehensive explanation of the expedition’s contribution to western developments. What Morris provides is a granular review of key incidents in the four decades of exploration , extractive economic activities, and political expansion west of the Missouri River after Lewis Available at bookstores, online at wsupress.wsu.edu, or by phone at 800-354-7360 UNDENIABLY NORTHWEST...