More Than a Single Best Narrative: Collective History and the Transformation of Historical Consciousness

Abstract

In establishing a collective history, past events are utilized to celebrate a nation’s origins. While analysis of these events is often framed in knowing the single best narrative, the events themselves become of interest when examining how the interpretations remain the same or change over time. The recent bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 offers an opportunity to examine such a change. This article investigates how students revealed a historical consciousness in realizing what purpose the expedition serves to a national identity. After analyzing conversations occurring among three eighth-grade students, this article explores the student responses to three interpretations, which bears important educational consequences and implications for the teaching and learning of history.

Notes

Notes

1 In 1803, the acquisition of 828,000 square miles of French territory by the U.S. government (which came to be known as the Louisiana Purchase) sparked interest in expansion to and exploration of the west coast. Shortly after the purchase, President Thomas Jefferson had Congress appropriate $2,500 for an expedition. The exploration of the Pacific Northwest coast was intended to study the Native tribes, botany, geology, the western terrain and wildlife, as well as evaluate the potential interference of British and French Canadian hunters and trappers who were already established in the area. President Jefferson selected Captain Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition, which was soon known as the Corps of Discovery. Lewis, William Clark, and 40 expedition members were charged with initiating and completing this overland expedition to the Pacific Northwest. The completion of the expedition in 1806 warranted several achievements, notably extensive knowledge of western geography, description of plants and animal species, established a precedent for Army exploration of the west, strengthened U.S. claims to the Oregon Territory, and produced a large body of literature about the west through the Lewis and Clark diaries.

2 The exhibition consisted of four sections including (1) The Indian Country in 1800, which set the context for the exhibition;( 2) Crossing the Indian Country, which focused specifically on the Lewis and Clark expedition; (3) A New Nation Comes to the Indian Country, which describes the experience of the five featured Indian communities in the wake of the exhibition; and (4) The Indian Country Today, which focused on the five communities and their contemporary efforts to protect and preserve their native cultures. The six subsections within Crossing the Indian Country were differentiated by chronology: November 1804 to April 1805—Winter with the Mandans and Hidatsas; September 1805—Meeting with the Salish and acquiring horses on the trip over the Lobo Trail; September 1805—Rescued by the Nez Perce; Winter 1805 to 1806—On the Pacific coast and rising tensions with Indians; April 1806—celebrations and meetings with Umatillas as the expedition heads east; and July 1806—Encounter with Blackfeet turns violent, Lewis shoots Indians. Further information about the exhibit is available at http://www.newberry.org/.