The Overlooked Legend: The Failure of the Media to Report on the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Abstract

Modern Americans have long revered Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their companions as legendary heroes, and the bicentennial has only heightened interest in the expedition and what it accomplished. But much of the interest in Lewis and Clark has developed in the last one hundred years. Published historical accounts of the expedition have abounded for years. But none of these historical narratives really address the issue of the press coverage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This study seeks to fill that gap by considering the reports about Lewis and Clark that appeared in newspapers following the return of the expedition in September 1806. Overall, American newspapers did not provide extensive press coverage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but Federalist and big-city editors proved less interested than their Republican and more rural counterparts.