Transcript BLAZING A NEW FRONTIER Thomas Jefferson's Grand Idea . . . Lewis and Clark's Great Adventure ". .

BLAZING
A NEW
FRONTIER
Thomas Jefferson's
Grand
Idea
. . . Lewis and
Clark's Great
Adventure
". . . the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and
such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication
with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia,
Oregon, Colorado or any other river, may offer the most direct and
practicable water communication across this continent for the
purposes of commerce . . ."
By the time Jefferson was
ready to request funds for the
expedition, his relationship
with the opposition in
Congress was anything but
friendly.
Secretary of the Treasury
Albert Gallatin urged that the
request be made in secret.
The message focused on the
state of Indian trade and
mentioned the proposed
western expedition near the
end of the document.
ROSTER OF THE MEN
Manifest
of Supplies
Presents for Indians:
•12 dozen pocket mirrors
•4,600 sewing needles
•144 small scissors
•10 pounds of sewing thread
•silk ribbons
•ivory combs
•handkerchiefs
•yards of bright-colored cloth
•130 rolls of tobacco
•tomahawks that doubled as pipes
•288 knives
•8 brass kettles
•vermilion face paint
•33 pounds of tiny beads
Drawing &
Notes for
Keel Boat
KEEL BOAT
Keel Boat
St. Louis: The Town as Seen by Lewis and
Clark
—William Clark
April 7, 1805
“We were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which
the foot of civilized man had never trodden,” Lewis wrote…
Pipe tomahawk
Pipe tomahawks are artifacts unique to
North America--created by Europeans
as trade objects but often exchanged
as diplomatic gifts.
They are powerful symbols of the
choice Europeans and Indians faced
whenever they met: one end was the
pipe of peace, the other an axe of war.
Lewis's expedition packing list notes
that fifty pipe tomahawks were to be
taken on the expedition.
JEFFERSON PEACE
MEDAL
Lewis was frustrated by the egalitarian
nature of Indian society: "the authority
of the Chief being nothing more than
mere admonition . . . in fact every man
is a chief." He set out to change that by
"making chiefs." He passed out medals,
certificates, and uniforms to give power
to chosen men.
In their speeches, Lewis and Clark
called the Indians "children." To
explorers, the term expressed the
relationship of ruler and subject.
In their speeches, the Indians called
Lewis and Clark "father,“... To them, it
expressed kinship and their assumption
that an adoptive father undertook an
obligation to show generosity and
loyalty to his new family.
In all the captains
would describe in
their journals 178
plants and 122
animals that
previously had
not been recorded
for science.
"We shall delineate with correctness the great
arteries of this great country: those who come after
us will . . . fill up the canvas we begin."
--Thomas Jefferson, 1805
AUGUST 12, 1805
Lewis ascends the final ridge toward
the Continental Divide and
“the most distant fountain of waters of
the Mighty Missouri in search of which
we have spent so many toilsome days”
-he expects to see a vast plain to the
west with a large river flowing to the
Pacific: the Northwest Passage that had
been the goal of the explorers since the
time of Columbus.
Instead, all he sees are more
mountains…
“This Mtn. is covered with Snow...and is of a
Conical form but rugid.”—Capt. William Clark
November 3, 1805
Mt. Hood in the distance…
Proof they are at last
approaching the ocean
“Ocian in view! O! the joy.”—
Capt. William Clark
November 7, 1805
NOVEMBER 7, 1805
Clark writes his most famous journal
entry:
“Ocian in view! O! the joy,”
They are actually at the end of Gray’s
Bay, still 20 miles from sea.
Clark estimates they have traveled 4162
miles from the mouth of the Missouri to
the Pacific. He estimate, based on dead
reckoning, will turn out to be within 40
miles of the actual distance.
Lewis & Clark Map
NOVEMBER 24, 1805
To make the crucial decision of
where to spend the winter, the
captains decide to put the matter to a
vote.
Significantly, in addition to the
others, Clark’s slave, York, is
allowed to vote – nearly 60 years
before slaves in the U.S. would be
emancipated…
Sacagawea, the Indian woman, votes
too – more than a century before
either women or Indians are granted
the full rights of citizenship.
"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end,
dare to do our duty as we understand it."
Lincoln's Cooper Institute Address, February 27, 1860.
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all
nations."
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.
"The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises... it is a set of challenges." -Sen. John F. Kennedy, Los Angeles, 1960
Kennedy brought to the White House the dynamic
idea of a “New Frontier” approach in dealing with
problems at home, abroad, and in the dimensions of
space. Out of his leadership in his first few months in
office came the 10-year Alliance for Progress to aid
Latin America, the Peace Corps,
and accelerated programs that
brought the first Americans into
orbit in the race in space.
For I stand tonight facing west on what was
once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch
three thousand miles behind me, the pioneers of
old gave up their safety, their comfort and
sometimes their lives to build a new world here in
the West. They were not the captives of their own
doubts, the prisoners of their own price tags. Their
motto was not "every man for himself"--but "all
for the common cause."
…I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we
seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the
uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved
problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets
of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions
of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink
back from that frontier, to look to the safe
mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good
intentions and high rhetoric…
But I believe the times demand new invention,
innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking
each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier.
My call is to the young in heart, regardless of
age…
…for courage--not complacency--is our need
today--leadership--not salesmanship. And the only
valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and
lead vigorously.
Presidential Motorcade
PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE JANUARY 20, 1961
Robert Frost wrote a new poem entitled
"Dedication" for delivery at the inauguration
of John F. Kennedy in 1961, but never read
it, because the sun's glare upon the snow
blinded Frost from seeing the text. Instead,
he recited "The Gift Outright" from memory.
The Gift Outright
The land was ours before we were the
land's. She was our land more than a
hundred years Before we were her people.
She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed
by, Possessed by what we now no more
possessed. Something we were withholding
made us weak Until we found out that it was
ourselves We were withholding from our
land of living, And forthwith found salvation
in surrender. Such as we were we gave
ourselves outright (The deed of gift was
many deeds of war) To the land vaguely
realizing westward, But still unstoried,
artless, unenhanced, Such as she was,
such as she would become. -- Robert Frost
In the long history of the world, only a few
generations have been granted the role of
defending freedom in its hour of maximum
danger. I do not shrink from this
responsibility--I welcome it.
I do not believe that any of us would
exchange places with any other people of
any other generation. The energy, the faith,
the devotion which we bring to this endeavor
will light our country and all who serve it--and
the glow from that fire can truly light the
world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what
your country can do for you--ask what you
can do for your country.
Pres. Kennedy's Cabinet: (clockwise from lower left)Budget Director David E. Bell; Postmaster
General Day, Vice President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara, Secretary of Agriculture
Freeman, Secretary of Labor Goldberg, Secretary of Commerce Hodges, Attorney General Kennedy,
Secretary of State Rusk, Pres. Kennedy, Secretary of the Treasury Dillon, Secretary of the Interior
Udall
The President meets with eager young Peace Corps volunteers before they depart for
Africa.
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and
they must be won and used for the progress of all people… But why, some say, the moon? Why choose
this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the
Atlantic?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not
only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and
measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one
we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
John H. Glenn, Jr.
October 22, 1962, and reports "unmistakable evidence...of offensive missile sites now in
preparation...to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere...It shall
be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba...as an attack
by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the
Soviet Union."
Following the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy gave silver
calendars made to his design by Tiffany and Company to those closest to hire
during the thirteen days of the crisis.
On June 11, 1963, the President orders Alabama Governor George Wallace to cease and desist from
obstructing black students from attending the University of Alabama. That night, the President
delivers a major televised address on civil rights. "It ought to be possible...for every American to
enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or color."
In August, leaders of the March on Washington, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Roy
Wilkins, meet to discuss civil rights.
But Goethe tells us in his
greatest poem that Faust lost
the liberty of his soul when he
said to the passing moment:
"Stay, thou art so fair." And our
liberty, too, is endangered if
we pause for the passing
moment, if we rest on our
achievements, if we resist the
pace of progress. For time and
the world do not stand still.
Change is the law of life. And
those who look only to the past
and present are certain to miss
the future.
"If more politicians knew poetry, and more
poets knew politics, I am convinced the
world would be a little better place in which
to live." --Sen. John F. Kennedy, Address at
Harvard University, 1956
"Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The carriage held but just ourselves,
And immortality." --Emily Dickinson
The oval office of President Kennedy, now vacant and silent.
But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of
indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too
urgent, and the stakes too high--to permit the customary passions of
political debate.
We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle
that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane
future.
Today our concern must be with that future. For the
world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways
will not do…
It is a time, in short, for a new generation of
leadership--new men to cope with new problems and new
opportunities.
But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it
or not… we stand on this frontier at a turning-point in
history. Are we up to the task--are we equal to the
challenge?
That is the question of the New Frontier.
All mankind waits upon our decision. A
whole world looks to see what we will do.
We cannot fail their trust,
we cannot fail to try.
History will be
our proof
For a century we labored to settle and to
subdue a continent. For half a century
we called upon unbounded invention and
untiring industry to create an order of
plenty for all of our people.
The challenge of the next half century
is whether we have the wisdom to use that
wealth to enrich and elevate our national
life, and to advance the quality of our
American civilization.
Your imagination, your initiative, and
your indignation will determine whether
we build a society where progress is the
servant of our needs, or a society where
old values and new visions are buried
under unbridled growth. For in your time
we have the opportunity to move not only
toward the rich society and the powerful
upward to the
Great Society .
society, but
The Great Society is a place where
every child can find knowledge to
enrich his mind and to enlarge his
talents.
A… place to build the Great Society is in the classrooms of
America. There your children's lives will be shaped. Our society
will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan the
farthest reaches of thought and imagination. We are still far from
that goal.
Today, 8 million adult Americans, more than the entire population
of Michigan, have not finished 5 years of school. Nearly 20 million
have not finished 8 years of school. Nearly 54 million -- more than
one quarter of all America -- have not even finished high school.
Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved
ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it. And if we
cannot educate today's youth, what will we do in 1970 when
elementary school enrollment will be 5 million greater than 1960?
And high school enrollment will rise by 5 million. College
enrollment will increase by more than 3 million.
Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an
escape from poverty.
We must seek an educational system which grows in excellence as it
grows in size…
Woodrow Wilson once wrote: "Every man sent out from his university
should be a man of his Nation as well as a man of his time."
For better or for worse, your generation has been appointed by
history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a
new age…
Will you join in the battle to build the Great Society…
Those who came to this land sought to build more than just a new
country. They sought a new world... So let us from this moment begin
our work so that in the future men will look back and say: It was then,
after a long and weary way, that man turned the exploits of his genius
to the full enrichment of his life.
FACTS about this decade.
•Population 177,830,000
•Unemployment 3,852,000
•National Debt 286.3 Billion
•Average Salary $4,743
•Teacher's Salary $5,174
•Minimum Wage $1.00
•Life Expectancy: Males 66.6 years, Females 73.1 years
•Auto deaths 21.3 per 100,000
•An estimated 850,000 "war baby" freshmen enter college;
emergency living quarters are set up in dorm lounges,
hotels and trailer camps.
Malcolm X
(1925–1965)
"...The American Journey has not ended. The dream is never accomplished. America is
always still to build. For men, as long as they are truly men, will dream of man's fulfillment."
Archibald MacLeash Sweet Land of Liberty
1964-65 Worlds Fair – New York City
Blazing a New Frontier
Lewis & Clark represent the explorers in all of us. They left out of St. Louis on that spring afternoon and “proceeded
under a jentle brease up the Missourie”. The map, which they used, had written across the space into which they
launched “The Unknown”. We too launch into the unknown each day. We grasp at opportunities to learn HOW to do
our jobs, but many times we miss the opportunities to understand WHY.
In 1805, President Jefferson wrote these words about that great unknown on the map: "We shall delineate with
correctness the great arteries of this great country: those who come after us will . . . fill up the canvas we begin."
Pioneers would follow after Lewis & Clark to fill in those great unknown spaces from east to west
. President Lincoln would lead us as we restored the chasm between North & South and 100 years later a new voice
would inspire us to see a New Frontier. He challenged us to choose… “between public interest and private comfort –
between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy” – between determined dedication and
creeping mediocrity.” Another would follow in his footsteps and offer us the “Great Society”. Out of these men came
legislation that would, in the mid-1960’s, give us the Higher Education Act that still governs our profession today.
Though bound with 7000+ regulations in an ever-changing profession we persevere. We hold a light to the path of the
American dream. “We set sail on…a …new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won,
and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.” And so, one more time into the great unknown; one more
time to set our compass to the future and our goals high… “not only because they are easy, but because they are hard,
because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that
we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone… Are we up to the task--are we equal to the challenge?…
That is the question of the New Frontier… All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we
will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.”
And so I submit to you my fellow explorers, will we rest in Tranquility Bay satisfied with the footprints we once left in
history? Will that “one small step for man” be our crowning achievement or will we press on? We hold the financial
keys to the future… to the knowledge locked inside our “ivy-covered” walls. Columbus sought the Northwest Passage
and landed in a New World. Lewis & Clark sought the same thing and opened up a new frontier. Knowledge is the
next frontier. May we set sail “under a jentle breaze” and take the next “giant leap for mankind”.