[DeWitt Clinton Copy] An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, to the Sources of the Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre Jaun, Rivers During the years 1805, 1806 and 1807. And a Tour through the Interior Parts of New Spain. in the year 1807.

Pike

Published by Pike, 1810

About this Item

Pike / 1810 / [DeWitt Clinton Copy] An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, to the Sources of the Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre Jaun, Rivers During the years 1805, 1806 and 1807. And a Tour through the Interior Parts of New Spain. in the year 1807. (Safe 4, 81745) 8vo (210 x 130 mm). Six maps (five folding) and three folding charts; usual offsetting to title, minor scattered spotting, Contemporary marbled sheep, red morocco label. Calf clamshell case, gilt leather label. The DeWitt Clinton Copy of the First Edition of the First Government-Sanctioned Exploration of the American Southwest Important association copy of Zebulon Pike s important account of his two expeditions into the American West. Operating on the orders of Thomas Jefferson, Pike s observations were crucial to the expansion of the United States. His maps were the first to show the trans-Mississippi West in such exacting detail, and the first to be based on first-hand observations. This example is notable additionally because it belonged to U.S. Senator and New York City mayor DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828). As noted by Richard Brookhiser: Politics was DeWitt Clinton s job but not his only interest. He thought of himself as what we would now call a public intellectual. He belonged to a public-spirited class of gentlemen who helped found the growing city s learned societies the American Academy of the Arts, the Literary and Philosophical Society, and the New-York Historical Society. . . He gave a lecture, famous in its day, surveying American intellectual life: entitled Introductory Discourse, it proudly recounted our achievements (Benjamin Franklin s inventions, Zebulon Pike s discoveries) and anxiously fretted over our shortcomings ( we are far behind our European brethren in the pursuits of literature ). . . [An Introductory Discourse Delivered Before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York on the Fourth of May, 1814, By De Witt Clinton L.L. D . . . (1815)] Zebulon Pike s expeditions in the American West Zebulon Pike was born in 1779 in New Jersey; his father was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. A teenage Zebulon followed in his footsteps, joining the army after being raised on a series of western outposts. One of his first assignments was to trail the French expedition under General Georges Henri Victor Collot, which was mapping the Mississippi frontier. Following the Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson needed to know more about the vast swath of land he had purchased, as well as extend American sovereignty into an area that already contained French, British, and Spanish trappers and traders. Additionally, he needed to create new treaties and relationships with the Indigenous peoples. To achieve these aims, Jefferson ordered several expeditions into the American West, including the Lewis and Clark expedition and what are now known as the first and second Pike expeditions. Initially, Lieutenant Pike was charged with the command of a reconnaissance expedition to find the source of the Mississippi River. Pike s mission left St. Louis on April 9, 1805 with orders to expel fur traders operating illegally within US borders, to establish cordial relations with several powerful tribes, and to survey the Mississippi and its tributaries. They set off upstream and reached the convergence of the Mississippi and t. Seller Inventory # 81745

Bibliographic Details

Title: [DeWitt Clinton Copy] An Account of ...

Publisher: Pike

Publication Date: 1810

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: VG+

Book Type: Book