| − | '''William Clark''' (1770-1838) was an explorer and statesman from [[Virginia]]. He formed part of the famous [[Lewis and Clark]] expedition to the West in 1803, with [[Meriwether Lewis]], among others. After the expedition, he was appointed by President [[Thomas Jefferson]] as principal Indian agent of the [[Louisiana]] Territory, during which time he negotiated intertribal peace treaties and convinced tribes that were potentially harmful to interests of the [[United States]] (such as the [[Sioux]]) to remain neutral or side against the [[British]] in the [[War of 1812]]. In 1813 he became the [[governor]] of [[Missouri]] Territory. When Missouri became a state in 1963, he lost his gubernatorial election bid, at which time he went back into Indian agency in [[St. Louis]] until shortly before his death in 1838. | + | '''William Clark''' (1770-1838) was an explorer and statesman from [[Virginia]]. He formed part of the famous [[Lewis and Clark]] expedition to the West in 1803, with [[Meriwether Lewis]], among others. After the expedition, he was appointed by President [[Thomas Jefferson]] as principal Indian agent of the [[Louisiana]] Territory, during which time he negotiated intertribal peace treaties and convinced tribes that were potentially harmful to interests of the [[United States]] (such as the [[Sioux]]) to remain neutral or side against the [[British]] in the [[War of 1812]]. In 1813 he became the [[governor]] of [[Missouri]] Territory. When Missouri became a state in 1821, he lost his gubernatorial election bid, at which time he went back into Indian agency in [[St. Louis]] until shortly before his death in 1838. |