On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent this confidential message to Congress seeking a $2,500 appropriation for an expedition to explore the West. The bill was cryptically referred to as “an act for extending the external commerce of the United States” in the House and Senate journals. On February 22, both chambers passed the bill and the Lewis and Clark expedition was funded. It was necessary for this message, and the subsequent appropriations, to be kept secret because the territory being explored was not part of the United States…yet. Of course this all changed later that year when Congress and Jefferson finalized the Louisiana Purchase. The new territory was officially turned over to the United States on December 20, 1803.
Thomas Jefferson’s confidential message to Congress, 1/18/1803, HR 7A-D1, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 306698)
