Henderson, Bruce. "Who Discovered the North Pole?" Smithsonian. Smithsonian Magazine, Apr. 2009. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.SimilaritiesBoth expeditions were eventually successful.Both took over a year to completeThe two expeditions had been financed by government.The Lewis and Clark expedition started in st. Louis 1804 and ended in St. louis 1806the expedition was led by Meriweather Lewis and he was appointed by president Jefferson to Explore the Louisiana purchase because hehad been the Presidents personal secretary. Meriweather chose his friend Williiam Clark to Co-lead the expedition because he was an expert mapmaker. The main objective of the expedition was to figure out if there was a Northwest passage (an all water route to Asia).the Lewis and Clark expedition was the first american expedition to explore the Louisiana purchase and created the first reliable map of the Louisiana territory. The North pole was discovered by Robert Perry although there was another man by the name of Fredrick Cook that claimed to have discovered it there is more evidence supporting Perrys claimThe North Pole was discovered in the year 1909. Robert Perrys' expedition started in Ellesmere Island with 50 men, 246 dogs and 19 sleds.There had been 5 previous attempts by perry to reach the North Pole but they all had failed. Robert Perry was an American explorer. during the expedition he had sent back his entire expedition team except for 4 natives and Matthew A. Henson. This Expedition differed from the North Pole expedition because.The land was bought by the U.S The expedition was appointed by the presidentThe first attempt to explore the Louisiana purchaseThe North pole Differed from the Corps expedition in many ways.There were previous attempts to explore the North PoleThe expedition was 100 years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition.The expedition was not in American territory.