Defying Death Not Duty: Deciphering the Mysteries of Meriwether Lewis

In studying Meriwether Lewis' life and death, everything hinges back on the central figure of Jefferson who hired Lewis, sponsored him, aggressively promoted him, but then wrote an epilogue that contradicted all previous actions and statements by labeling Lewis suicidal. That single inexplicable paragraph wiped out any serious debate as to the cause of Lewis's death for almost two hundred years. No one can or should attempt to decipher what happened to Lewis without first explaining why Jefferson would eternally condemn a friend and his good name with that stained legacy. What could drive such a bitter step as to further destroy a man that has already died? That question cannot be ignored and in attempting to answer it this book was produced with Jefferson where he belongs as the central figure of not only the glory widely heaped upon him but also in the deaths of many that orbited his dark planet.

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