Presidents and War: Thomas Jefferson and the First Barbary War
One of the earliest instances of the United States having to confront foreign terrorists abroad was something that became known as the First Barbary War. It lasted from 1801 to 1805 and was known by other names such as the Tripolitan War and the Barbary Coast War. The United States and their ally Sweden fought against the four North African states known collectively as the "Barbary States". Three of these were autonomous, but were considered to be a part of the Ottoman Empire. These were Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunis. The fourth was the independent Sultanate of Morocco. The acts of terror were pirates from the Barbary States who seized American merchant ships and held their crews for ransom. They demanded that the U.S. pay tribute to the Barbary rulers.
Barbary pirates from the North African Ottoman provinces of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the independent Sultanate of Morocco had been conducting a campaign of plunder on the Mediterranean Sea. They captured merchant ships and either enslaved or ransomed their crews in order to furnish their leadership with wealth and naval power. A mendant order of Catholic priests known as the Trinitarian Order, or order of "Mathurins", had operated out of France and their mission was to collect and disburse funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates. The pirates were believed to have captured over a million Europeans and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.
These Barbary raiders turned their attacks on American merchant shipping, demanding payment of tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks. Before the Treaty of Paris had been signed (formally recognizing American independence from Britain) American ships were protected by France under the Treaty of Alliance signed in 1778. The US lost its protection under that treaty after the war ended. The first American merchant ship seized after the Treaty of Paris ended was the brigantine Betsey, on October 11, 1784. The Spanish government negotiated the freedom of the captured ship and its crew, but Spain also recommended the United States to offer tribute to prevent a repetition of further attacks against merchant ships.
The U.S. Minister to France at the time was Thomas Jefferson. He decided to send envoys to Morocco and Algeria to try to enter into treaties with the Barbary raider and to secure the freedom of captured sailors held by Algeria. Morocco was the first Barbary Coast State to sign a treaty with the U.S. This treaty, signed on June 23, 1786, formally ended all Moroccan piracy against American shipping. The treaty provided that if any Americans captured by Moroccans or other Barbary Coast States docked at a Moroccan city, they would be set free and come under the protection of the Moroccan State.
American diplomatic efforts with Algeria, the other major Barbary Coast State, did not go as well. Algeria had captured the US schooner Maria on July 25, 1785 and another schooner called the Dauphin a week later. All four Barbary Coast states demanded $660,000 each for the return of the two ships. The envoys were only given a budget of $40,000 to achieve peace.The crews of Maria and Dauphin remained enslaved for over a decade, and soon were joined by crews of other ships captured by the Barbary States.
In March 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. They asked what justification the Barbary states had for the seizure of these ships, and ambassador replied "It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."
Jefferson recommended against paying tribute, arguing that doing so would encourage more attacks. John Adams agreed with Jefferson in principle, but he was more pragmatic and believed that the U.S. had no other choice but to pay tribute until an adequate navy could be built.
Letters and testimonies by captured sailors describe their captivity as a form of slavery. Most captives were pressed into performing hard labor in the service of the Barbary pirates. Extremely poor conditions exposed them to vermin and disease. Public pressure in the US called for direct government action to stop the piracy against U.S. ships.
On July 19, 1794, Congress appropriated $800,000 for the release of American prisoners and for a peace treaty with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. On September 5, 1795, American negotiator Joseph Donaldson signed a peace treaty with the Dey of Algiers, that included an upfront payment of $642,500 in silver coinage, in return for peace, the release of the American captives, and gifts for the royal court. An additional annual tribute of $21,600 in shipbuilding supplies and ammunition was also to be paid. The treaty brought about the release of 115 American sailors held captive.
Jefferson continued to argue for and end to payment of the tribute. George Washington agreed and the recommissioning of the American Navy in 1794 resulted in increased American might on the seas. The continuing demand for tribute ultimately led to the formation of the United States Department of the Navy in 1798, whose goal was to prevent further attacks upon American shipping and to end the demands for tributes from the Barbary States.
Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party believed that the future of the country lay in westward expansion, and many in the party believed that Atlantic trade would lead to wars in the Old World at a massive cost. Thomas Jefferson defeated President John Adams in the election of 1800 and he was sworn into office on March 4, 1801. Jefferson believed military force was called for to end the payment of tributes, in order to resolve the Tripoli crisis. Prior to Jefferson's inauguration, Congress had passed naval legislation that provided for six frigates to be "officered and manned as the President of the United States may direct." Following Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, Yusuf Karamanli, the Pasha of Tripoli, demanded $225,000 from the new administration, stating that it was a long-standing tradition that, if a government was changed, that government would have to pay 'consular' gifts, in either gold or in goods. Jefferson refused the demand. On May 1801, in response to Jefferson's refusal, the Pasha declared war on the United States. Algiers and Tunis did not follow suit.
Even before learning that Tripoli had declared war on the United States, Jefferson had sent a small squadron, consisting of three frigates and one schooner, under the command of Commodore Richard Dale with gifts to attempt to maintain peace with the Barbary powers. Dale had been instructed that if war had been declared, he was to "protect American ships and citizens against potential aggression." Jefferson added that Dale was "unauthorized by the constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense." Congress never voted on a formal declaration of war, but it authorized the President to instruct the commanders of armed American vessels to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to take any other action seen as necessary under the circumstances.
The American squadron joined a Swedish flotilla under Rudolf Cederström in blockading Tripoli. The Swedes had been at war with Tripoli since 1800. On May 31, 1801, Commodore Edward Preble traveled to Messina, Sicily, to the court of King Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples. Although the kingdom was at war with Napoleon, Ferdinand supplied the Americans with manpower, craftsmen, supplies, gunboats, mortar boats, and the ports of Messina, Syracuse, and Palermo to be used as naval bases for launching operations against Tripoli.
In 1802, in response to Jefferson's request for authority to deal with the pirates, Congress passed "An act for the protection of commerce and seamen of the United States against the Tripolitan cruisers," authorizing the President to "employ such of the armed vessels of the United States as may be judged requisite... for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof on the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas." The statute authorized American ships to seize vessels belonging to the Bey of Tripoli, with the captured property distributed to those who brought the vessels into port.
The following year, Jefferson called for and received an increase in military force and deployment of many of the navy's best ships to the region throughout 1802. Throughout 1803, Preble set up and maintained a blockade of the Barbary ports and executed a campaign of raids and attacks against the cities' fleets. In October 1803, Tripoli's fleet captured USS Philadelphia intact after the frigate ran aground on a reef while patrolling Tripoli harbor. Efforts by the Americans to float the ship while under fire from shore batteries and Tripolitan Naval units failed. The ship, her captain, William Bainbridge, and all officers and crew were taken ashore and held as hostages. The ship was turned against the Americans and anchored in the harbor as a gun battery.
On the night of February 16, 1804, Captain Stephen Decatur led a small detachment of U.S. Marines aboard the captured Tripolitan ketch which they rechristened as the USS Intrepid. This deceived the guards on Philadelphia and the Intrepid was able to float close enough to board her. Decatur's men stormed the ship, overpowered their enemy and set fire to Philadelphia.
On July 14, 1804 Commodore Preble attacked Tripoli in a series of inconclusive battles. An unsuccessful attempt was made to use Intrepid as a fire ship, packed with explosives and sent to enter Tripoli harbor. But Intrepid was destroyed by enemy gunfire, before she achieved her goal, killing the entire crew.
The Battle of Derna was fought in April and May of 1805. Ex-consul William Eaton and US Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a force of eight U.S. Marines and five hundred mercenaries from Crete and Egypt to capture the city of Derna. This was the first time the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil, and action memorialized in a line of the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli". The capture of the city gave American negotiators leverage in securing the return of hostages, ending the war. Yusuf Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 10, 1805. As part of the treaty, Jefferson agreed to pay a ransom of $60,000 for the American prisoners, drawing a distinction between paying tribute and paying ransom.
Many argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war, but William Eaton remained bitter for the rest of his life about the treaty, feeling cheated for his efforts by the American emissary from the U.S. Department of State, diplomat Tobias Lear. Eaton and others felt that the capture of Derna should have been used as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of all American prisoners without having to pay ransom and he felt that the honor of the United States had been compromised.
The First Barbary War enhanced the reputation of the United States' military and proved that America could execute a war far from home, and that American forces had the cohesion to fight together as Americans rather than separately as representatives of their home state. The United States Navy and Marines became a permanent part of the American military Decatur returned to the U.S. as the first post-revolutionary war hero.
But by 1807, Algiers had gone back to taking American ships and seamen hostage. Distracted by problems of British impressment of sailors, followed by the War of 1812, the U.S. was unable to respond to the problem until 1815, with the Second Barbary War, in which naval victories by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments by the U.S.
Barbary pirates from the North African Ottoman provinces of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the independent Sultanate of Morocco had been conducting a campaign of plunder on the Mediterranean Sea. They captured merchant ships and either enslaved or ransomed their crews in order to furnish their leadership with wealth and naval power. A mendant order of Catholic priests known as the Trinitarian Order, or order of "Mathurins", had operated out of France and their mission was to collect and disburse funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates. The pirates were believed to have captured over a million Europeans and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.
These Barbary raiders turned their attacks on American merchant shipping, demanding payment of tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks. Before the Treaty of Paris had been signed (formally recognizing American independence from Britain) American ships were protected by France under the Treaty of Alliance signed in 1778. The US lost its protection under that treaty after the war ended. The first American merchant ship seized after the Treaty of Paris ended was the brigantine Betsey, on October 11, 1784. The Spanish government negotiated the freedom of the captured ship and its crew, but Spain also recommended the United States to offer tribute to prevent a repetition of further attacks against merchant ships.
The U.S. Minister to France at the time was Thomas Jefferson. He decided to send envoys to Morocco and Algeria to try to enter into treaties with the Barbary raider and to secure the freedom of captured sailors held by Algeria. Morocco was the first Barbary Coast State to sign a treaty with the U.S. This treaty, signed on June 23, 1786, formally ended all Moroccan piracy against American shipping. The treaty provided that if any Americans captured by Moroccans or other Barbary Coast States docked at a Moroccan city, they would be set free and come under the protection of the Moroccan State.
American diplomatic efforts with Algeria, the other major Barbary Coast State, did not go as well. Algeria had captured the US schooner Maria on July 25, 1785 and another schooner called the Dauphin a week later. All four Barbary Coast states demanded $660,000 each for the return of the two ships. The envoys were only given a budget of $40,000 to achieve peace.The crews of Maria and Dauphin remained enslaved for over a decade, and soon were joined by crews of other ships captured by the Barbary States.
In March 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. They asked what justification the Barbary states had for the seizure of these ships, and ambassador replied "It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."
Jefferson recommended against paying tribute, arguing that doing so would encourage more attacks. John Adams agreed with Jefferson in principle, but he was more pragmatic and believed that the U.S. had no other choice but to pay tribute until an adequate navy could be built.
Letters and testimonies by captured sailors describe their captivity as a form of slavery. Most captives were pressed into performing hard labor in the service of the Barbary pirates. Extremely poor conditions exposed them to vermin and disease. Public pressure in the US called for direct government action to stop the piracy against U.S. ships.
On July 19, 1794, Congress appropriated $800,000 for the release of American prisoners and for a peace treaty with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. On September 5, 1795, American negotiator Joseph Donaldson signed a peace treaty with the Dey of Algiers, that included an upfront payment of $642,500 in silver coinage, in return for peace, the release of the American captives, and gifts for the royal court. An additional annual tribute of $21,600 in shipbuilding supplies and ammunition was also to be paid. The treaty brought about the release of 115 American sailors held captive.
Jefferson continued to argue for and end to payment of the tribute. George Washington agreed and the recommissioning of the American Navy in 1794 resulted in increased American might on the seas. The continuing demand for tribute ultimately led to the formation of the United States Department of the Navy in 1798, whose goal was to prevent further attacks upon American shipping and to end the demands for tributes from the Barbary States.
Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party believed that the future of the country lay in westward expansion, and many in the party believed that Atlantic trade would lead to wars in the Old World at a massive cost. Thomas Jefferson defeated President John Adams in the election of 1800 and he was sworn into office on March 4, 1801. Jefferson believed military force was called for to end the payment of tributes, in order to resolve the Tripoli crisis. Prior to Jefferson's inauguration, Congress had passed naval legislation that provided for six frigates to be "officered and manned as the President of the United States may direct." Following Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, Yusuf Karamanli, the Pasha of Tripoli, demanded $225,000 from the new administration, stating that it was a long-standing tradition that, if a government was changed, that government would have to pay 'consular' gifts, in either gold or in goods. Jefferson refused the demand. On May 1801, in response to Jefferson's refusal, the Pasha declared war on the United States. Algiers and Tunis did not follow suit.
Even before learning that Tripoli had declared war on the United States, Jefferson had sent a small squadron, consisting of three frigates and one schooner, under the command of Commodore Richard Dale with gifts to attempt to maintain peace with the Barbary powers. Dale had been instructed that if war had been declared, he was to "protect American ships and citizens against potential aggression." Jefferson added that Dale was "unauthorized by the constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense." Congress never voted on a formal declaration of war, but it authorized the President to instruct the commanders of armed American vessels to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to take any other action seen as necessary under the circumstances.
The American squadron joined a Swedish flotilla under Rudolf Cederström in blockading Tripoli. The Swedes had been at war with Tripoli since 1800. On May 31, 1801, Commodore Edward Preble traveled to Messina, Sicily, to the court of King Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples. Although the kingdom was at war with Napoleon, Ferdinand supplied the Americans with manpower, craftsmen, supplies, gunboats, mortar boats, and the ports of Messina, Syracuse, and Palermo to be used as naval bases for launching operations against Tripoli.
In 1802, in response to Jefferson's request for authority to deal with the pirates, Congress passed "An act for the protection of commerce and seamen of the United States against the Tripolitan cruisers," authorizing the President to "employ such of the armed vessels of the United States as may be judged requisite... for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof on the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas." The statute authorized American ships to seize vessels belonging to the Bey of Tripoli, with the captured property distributed to those who brought the vessels into port.
The following year, Jefferson called for and received an increase in military force and deployment of many of the navy's best ships to the region throughout 1802. Throughout 1803, Preble set up and maintained a blockade of the Barbary ports and executed a campaign of raids and attacks against the cities' fleets. In October 1803, Tripoli's fleet captured USS Philadelphia intact after the frigate ran aground on a reef while patrolling Tripoli harbor. Efforts by the Americans to float the ship while under fire from shore batteries and Tripolitan Naval units failed. The ship, her captain, William Bainbridge, and all officers and crew were taken ashore and held as hostages. The ship was turned against the Americans and anchored in the harbor as a gun battery.
On the night of February 16, 1804, Captain Stephen Decatur led a small detachment of U.S. Marines aboard the captured Tripolitan ketch which they rechristened as the USS Intrepid. This deceived the guards on Philadelphia and the Intrepid was able to float close enough to board her. Decatur's men stormed the ship, overpowered their enemy and set fire to Philadelphia.
On July 14, 1804 Commodore Preble attacked Tripoli in a series of inconclusive battles. An unsuccessful attempt was made to use Intrepid as a fire ship, packed with explosives and sent to enter Tripoli harbor. But Intrepid was destroyed by enemy gunfire, before she achieved her goal, killing the entire crew.
The Battle of Derna was fought in April and May of 1805. Ex-consul William Eaton and US Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a force of eight U.S. Marines and five hundred mercenaries from Crete and Egypt to capture the city of Derna. This was the first time the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil, and action memorialized in a line of the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli". The capture of the city gave American negotiators leverage in securing the return of hostages, ending the war. Yusuf Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 10, 1805. As part of the treaty, Jefferson agreed to pay a ransom of $60,000 for the American prisoners, drawing a distinction between paying tribute and paying ransom.
Many argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war, but William Eaton remained bitter for the rest of his life about the treaty, feeling cheated for his efforts by the American emissary from the U.S. Department of State, diplomat Tobias Lear. Eaton and others felt that the capture of Derna should have been used as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of all American prisoners without having to pay ransom and he felt that the honor of the United States had been compromised.
The First Barbary War enhanced the reputation of the United States' military and proved that America could execute a war far from home, and that American forces had the cohesion to fight together as Americans rather than separately as representatives of their home state. The United States Navy and Marines became a permanent part of the American military Decatur returned to the U.S. as the first post-revolutionary war hero.
But by 1807, Algiers had gone back to taking American ships and seamen hostage. Distracted by problems of British impressment of sailors, followed by the War of 1812, the U.S. was unable to respond to the problem until 1815, with the Second Barbary War, in which naval victories by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments by the U.S.