The Barbary Wars (1801-1805)

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It was clearly in the best interest of the major European powers to have a monopoly on trade. The United States was capable of threatening that monopoly, and the pirates were a good way to keep them in check without risking an actual war. As a result, America was left alone, without naval protection against the marauding pirates. One prominent merchant said that “Our commerce is on the point of being annihilated, and, unless an armament is fitted out, we may very soon expect the Algerians on the coast of America.”[7] Worse, European powers believed that allowing the pirates to harass American shipping was in their best economic interests. Thus, the Barbary pirate conflict was not only a battle between America and the pirates. Rather, it was an extension of the economic battle between the fledging United States and the established European powers. Accordingly, the economic reasons that sparked the war relate to America’s inability to express itself through hard power. Before the Barbary pirate wars began, the American navy was small and in poor condition. Moreover, many of the Founders saw the navy as a standing army, and thus a threat to liberty.[8] Thomas Jefferson, though, realized that America had even more serious geopolitical problems in regards to maritime trade. In contrast to the expansive European commerce, he said that “ours must all enter [the Mediterranean] at a trait only five leagues wide,” allowing pirate cruisers to easily prey upon American shipping.[9] Lacking a navy to adequately protect its ships, the United States was forced to pay tribute to the pirate states. The Algerian treaty was signed in 1796, which required the United States to pay almost 1 million dollars to the pirates, in exchange for peace. The lack of American power is evident in the fact that, due to a lack of funds, the United States agreed to build ships for the pirates. In total, the United States built a brig, two schooners, and a thirty-six-gun frigate for the pirates.[10] For many in the United States, this was intolerable, but the Secretary of State wrote that “there appeared no other alternative.”[11] The United States also signed treaties with Tripoli and Tunis in 1796, again with a sum of money and the building of warships as tribute. However, eventually, the tribute demanded became too large. The economic policy of the United States was constrained by its inability to project naval power. In contrast to the European powers, it lacked a standing navy capable of protecting its mercantile interests. George Washington stated, “To an active external commerce, the protection of a naval force is indispensible.”[12] Without adequate naval hard power, the United States was constrained into paying tribute, while the pirates continued to attack its ships.

Additionally, another major cause of the war was the political battle over the establishment of a larger navy and a lack of available funds. Logically, the fact that the Congress and multiple Presidents were reluctant to build a navy negatively affected American naval power in this time period. The founders saw the navy as an extension of the standing army. Unlike a militia, the navy needed constant training, and seasoned sailors to man ships.[13] James Madison, as well as the Republicans, were opposed to a standing army because they believed it was a threat to liberty. Senator Maclay believed that a naval force would mean “farewell [to] freedom in America.”[14] Thomas Jefferson also shared this view, until the Barbary pirate conflict began.[15] Therefore, opposition to a standing army led the Congress to negotiate with the pirates, as it lacked naval forces. Another contributing and ultimately ironic factor was the lack of monies available to build a navy in the first place. Building a navy takes time, and in the late 1790‟s, the federal government had no money to build and equip a full navy.[16] This fact is ultimately ironic, because eventually tribute and captives cost more than 1 million dollars each year.[17] In contrast, building a forty-four gun Frigate in 1800 cost 600,000 dollars, according to the Congressional record.[18] As noted above, the United States went so far as to build the pirates multiple frigates for their own use. Ultimately, the cost of equipping a navy would have been less than negotiating with the pirates. While negotiation avoided war, it did not stop the pirates from continuing to prey upon American commerce. The main opposition to building a navy, then, was due to considerations about a standing army. These facts hampered American naval power and in fact lead to a deterioration of its commercial interests. Without naval power, it was clear that the American shipping was at risk. Instead of dealing with this problem, the Congress actually built ships for the pirates and not for its own defense.

Further, one of the major cultural causes of the war was the taking of American captives by the Barbary Pirates. While the slave trade was closely linked with the naval commerce, the situations in the Barbary wars were quite different. In this instance, the Barbary consairs would capture American and European sailors and force them into involuntary servitude. Such a situation with Christians forced into slavery, was viewed as intolerable by the American public.[19] These slaves had to blast and move rocks in the hot weather, with meager rations, and constant abuse by their captors.[20] One man in captivity, Richard O’Brien, described his situation as being surrounded with the pest and contagious distempers, far distant from our country.”[21] In addition, The United States was frequently required to pay a ransom for their release. In 1790, the Congressional record shows that it cost almost 59,496 dollars to rescue “3 Captains, 2 mates, 2 Passengers and 14 Sailors.”[22] Thomas Jefferson, then the Secretary of State, recounted that “The liberation of our citizens has an intimate connection with the liberation of our commerce in the Mediterranean…the distresses of both proceed from the same cause.”[23] The capture of Americans by these pirates resonated in the popular culture. Accounts of the pirates cast them as “demonic, amoral, and bestial, the figure of the white slaves of Africa proved a rhetorically supple and enduring image.”[24] According to Robert Cray, the American public viewed the Arabs as an “alien, sexually debauched culture that enslaved and tortured Christians.[25]” One sailor aboard the U.S.S. Philadelphia, William Ray, notes that sailors are “manacled, stripped, castigated, flayed and mangled worse than the vilest Virginian slave.”[26] Regardless of the truth of these accounts, the American public, and especially its leaders, were appalled by the mistreatment of American captives. While the United States may have practiced slavery, it certainly did not condone the practice of enslaving