could come into question. Jefferson acknowledged as much to Dr. Benjamin Rush when he wrote asking for some tutelage and guidance to prepare Lewis for the journey. But for Jefferson, the young Lewis had experience that would make up for his lack of formal education: “knowledge of the Western Country, of the army and of all its interests & relations.”1 With military experience and a captain’s rank, a penchant for travel and adventure, a scientifically oriented mind, experience in navigation and cartography, all the requisite skills that come from running a plantation at a young age, and the
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