About the Author

Thomas Jefferson was third president of the United States, and the vast Louisiana Territory was acquired under his leadership. The only monograph published under his name (Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782) set a high standard of reporting on geography, geology, and natural history. The expeditions described in this presidential message maintain that standard.|Doug Erickson is archivist and head of special collections at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He is co- author of William Stafford : an exhibit catalog and bibliography (Lewis and Clark College Ash Creek Press, 2000), and with Jeremy Skinner and Paul Merchant, The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition A Bibliography and Essays (Lewis and Clark College 2003)