Sacagawea Comprehension Test

What did President Thomas Jefferson ask Lewis and Clark to do?

• negotiate a deal with the French emperor Napoleon

• get to know the Native American tribes

• find a route through the new territory to the Pacific Ocean

• discover new plant and animal species

How does the author describe the terrain that Lewis and Clark explored?

• enormous, unfamiliar, mountainous

• unpopulated, open, grassy

• small, hilly, temperate

• dry, settled, dotted with lakes

Lewis and Clark needed help to explore the new, uncharted territory. What evidence from the passage supports this statement?

• “But to do so, the explorers needed to deal with Native American tribes they did not know and whose language they did not speak.”

• “To complete the job, Lewis and Clark relied on the language and negotiation skills of a Native American woman.”

• “Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery were charged with finding a route from the east through this enormous and uncharted new terrain all the way west to the Pacific Ocean.”

• “They needed to pass over treacherous mountains and rivers that were unfamiliar to them.”

Why did Sacagawea’s presence in the expedition team put other tribes at ease?

• because she had a Canadian husband

• because she was a skilled hunter

• because she was also Native American

• because she did not look dangerous

What is this passage mostly about?

• the advantages of Native American nomadic culture

• the politics and history of the Louisiana Purchase

• how Sacagawea was taken from and eventually reunited with her tribe

• how Sacagawea helped Lewis and Clark during their expedition

Read the following sentence: “Lewis and Clark had journals filled with notes and maps, and precious samples of the plants and animals they had encountered in the new western territory of the United States.”As used in the passage, what does “encountered” most nearly mean?

• came across

• avoided

• attacked

• brought along

Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below.

Before the expedition left her tribe, Sacagawea had to decide between staying with her people and finishing the expedition; ___________, she chose to continue traveling with Lewis and Clark.

• instead

• ultimately

• therefore

• above all

Check each of the jobs Sacagawea had during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

• Interpreter

• Cook

• Hunter

• Guide

Would Lewis and Clark’s expedition have likely been successful without the help of Sacagawea?

Why or why not?

What were the names of the explorers sent by President Jefferson?

• Tom and Jerry

• Ash and Misty

• Lewis and Clark

• Batman and Robin