This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories.

And we tell stories about everything here on this show. We have a particular affection for American history stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show.

We have a particular affection for American history stories.

And as always, all of our American history stories are brought to us by the great folks

at Hillsdale College.

Go to hillsdale.edu to sign up for their free and terrific online courses.

Stephen Ambrose was one of America's leading biographers and historians.

Ambrose passed in 2002, but his epic storytelling can now be heard here at Our American Stories, thanks to those who run his estate.

Here's Ambrose to share some stories from his number one New York Times bestseller,

Undaunted Courage, Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson,

and the opening of the American West.

The Lewis and Clark expedition began in the White House on January 18, 1803, when President Thomas Jefferson

sent a special secret message to Congress requesting appropriation of $2,500 for an exploration

west of the Mississippi River. There was a little bit of cost overrun. But that goes with the territory.

Isn't that right, Senator?

That just goes with the territory.

You know it's going to be cost overrun.

Lewis and his co-commander, William Clark, discovered hundreds of new plants and animal species

and saw and described sites that no man had ever seen.

Much of what they saw has been altered in the past two century, but pristine sites on the trail

...