The Press Response to the Corps of Discovery: The Making of Heroes in an Egalitarian Age

Abstract

This study examines how the nation's print media played a role in the making of heroes out of early American explorers. The method includes examining the magazine and newspaper text for hero labels and those important hero referents that scholars have long described: distinctive physical skills, an exemplary response to a challenge, and admirable moral characteristics, as well as a reputation that transcends a lifetime.