Which pair led the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase region and the American West?

• A. Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau
• B. Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis
• C. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
• D. Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long

Answer: (C)

The key idea is identifying who actually led the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase region and the American West. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark headed the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, also called the Corps of Discovery. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase, they set out in 1804 from St. Louis to map the lands, document plants and animals, and establish relations with Indigenous peoples as they pushed to the Pacific coast. Sacagawea and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, supported the journey as interpreter and guide, but they were not the leaders. Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long led separate explorations of other western areas, not the main Lewis and Clark expedition. So the pair that led the expedition to explore that region is Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.