Barbary Pirates and the Barbary War Name:_______________

CHQ: Why did the U.S. fight the Barbary pirates? College:_____________

Day 1 Build up to war

Day 2 Enough is Enough

Day 3 Conclusion

Timeline of Barbary Pirate events

September 3, 1783: Treaty of Paris, U.S. free from Great Britain, but also lose the shipping
protection that the British offered

1784: U.S. Ship, Betsy, is captured, and its crew is sold into slavery in Morocco

1786: U.S. signs peace treaty with Morocco

1795: U.S. Congress raises one million to purchase peace from Barbary pirates, begin creation
of a Navy

1795: U.S signs treaty with Algiers to pay them to not attack U.S. shipping

1796: U.S. signs treaty with Tripoli to pay them to not attack U.S. shipping

1797: U.S. signs treaty with Tunis to pay them to not attack U.S. shipping

1801: Tripoli declares war on the U.S.

1805: Treaty of Tripoli is signed

1812: Barbary corsairs break treaty begin attacking U.S. shipping

1815: U.S. Congress and President James Madison declare war on Algiers

December 1815: Treaty of Algiers is signed, American war ships stay in the Mediterranean to
enforce it
Document A: Modified Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson

Dear Sir,

The first question is, what will it cost us to make peace with all of the Barbary States? It may
cost us five hundred thousand pounds sterling, though it could be done for three or perhaps for
two.
The second question is, what damage shall we suffer, if we do not treat.
Compute six or eight percent insurance upon all your exports, and imports. Compute the total
loss of all the Mediterranean and North African Trade.
Compute the Loss of half your trade to Portugal and Spain.

These computations will amount to more than half million sterling a year.
The third question is what will it cost to fight them? I answer, at least half million sterling a year
without protecting your trade, and when you leave off fighting you must pay as much money as
it would cost you now for peace.
We should have peace, because a war would sink us annually ten times as much.

Source: Letter from John Adams, in London, to Thomas Jefferson in June 6, 1786 about the
Barbary Pirates. Adams and Jefferson are trying to figure out how to deal with the issue.

WHO? WHEN? WHERE?

1. What is happening in the United States in 1786? What do you know about the country at this
time?
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2. What seems to be most important to John Adams when it comes to thinking about the
Barbary Pirate issue?
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3. What is John Adams argument? What does he think that the U.S. should do? Use details
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Document B: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams Modified
Dear Sir,

I ask a fleet of 150 ships, the one half of which shall be in constant cruise. This fleet built will
cost 450,000 pounds sterling. Its annual expense is 300 sterling pounds a ship, including every
thing: this will be 45,000 sterling a year. Were we to charge all this to the Barbary war it would
amount to little more than we must pay if we buy peace. But as it is proper and necessary that
we should establish a small marine force (even were we to buy a peace from the Barbary
pirates) and as that force laid up in our dockyards would cost us half as much annually as if kept
in order for service, we have a right to say that only 22,500 sterling per year should be charged
to the Barbary war.

Source: Letter From Thomas Jefferson, in Paris, to John Adams about the Barbary Pirates on
July 11, 1786. It was sent in response to John Adams letter.
WHO? WHEN? WHERE?

1. What seems to be most important to Thomas Jefferson when it comes to thinking about
Barbary Pirate issue?
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2. What is Thomas Jeffersons argument? What does he think that the U.S. should do? Use
details
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3. Who do you agree with more, Jefferson or Adams? Why? Use 2 details from the documents
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Document C: Modified Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Yusuf Qaramanli, Pasha and Bey of
Tripoli
Great and Respected Friend,
The assurances of friendship, which we have given you, and our sincerest desire for peace and
commerce with your people, are faithful expressions of our feelings. We will continue to act
like this because countries are supposed to act in good faith towards one another and I believe
that our treaty shows that. However, this past response from you has put us in an awkward
position. It seems that you are implying that you are not going to follow the agreement we had
exactly how it is written. So therefore I renew to you, our assurances of constant friendship and
of our desire to cultivate peace and commerce with you.
We have found it necessary though to detach a squadron of ships into the Mediterranean
Sea for observations, and to make sure that our ships doing trading are safe. They have been
told to stop in your ports if need be, and I hope that you will show them your hospitality and
that their appearance does not affect our relationship. We have told them to not start any
fighting, they are only there to react to anything that may happen to our ships.
Source: Letter from President Thomas Jefferson to Yusuf Qaramanli, Pasha and Bey of Tripoli,
which means a leader of Tripoli, on May 21, 1801, after Yusuf declared war on the United
States on May 14, 1801.
WHO? WHEN? WHERE?

1. What is Thomas Jeffersons tone? Use examples

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2. What is the purpose of Thomas Jeffersons letter? Use details from the document
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3. Do you think that Thomas Jefferson is being honest with Yusuf Qaramanli? Why or why not?
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4. How does this letter from Thomas Jefferson compare to the one he sent to John Adams in
Document B, 15 years earlier? Use details from both documents
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Document D: Excerpt from TreatyofPeaceandAmity,SignedatTripoliJune4,1805
ARTICLE 1
There shall be, from the conclusion of this Treaty, a firm, unbreakable and universal peace, and
a sincere friendship between the President and Citizens of the United States of America, on the
one part, and the Pasha and Bey and his subjects of Tripoli, made by the free consent of both
parties. And if either party shall hereafter grant to any other nation, any particular favor or
privilege in Navigation or Commerce, it shall immediately be told to the other party, freely.

ARTICLE 2
The Pasha of Tripoli shall deliver up to the American Squadron now off Tripoli, all the
Americans in his possession; and all the Subjects of the Pasha of Tripoli now in the power of
the United States of America shall be delivered up to him; and as the number of Americans in
possession of the Pasha of Tripoli amounts to Three Hundred Persons, more or less; and the
number of Tripoli Subjects in the power of the Americans is about, One Hundred more or less;
The Pasha of Tripoli shall receive from the United States of America, the sum of Sixty
Thousand Dollars, as a payment for the difference between the Prisoners herein mentioned.

ARTICLE 3
All the forces of the United States which have been, or may be in hostility against the Pasha of
Tripoli, shall be withdrawn, and no supplies shall be given by or in behalf of the said United
States, during the continuance of this peace, to any of the Subjects of the Pasha, who may be in
hostility against him in any part of Tripoli; And the Americans will use all means in their power
to persuade the Brother of the Pasha, who has co-operated with the United States to withdraw
from the Territory of Tripoli; but they will not use any force or improper means and he will
withdraw himself, the Pasha must deliver to him, his Wife and Children that he has captured.

Source:TheTreatyofPeaceandAmity,signedatTripolionJune4th,1805,aftertheU.S.has
sufficientlydefeatedtheforcesofTripoli.

1.ExplaineachoftheArticlesinyourownwords.
Article1:
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Article2:
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Article3:
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2.Whichcountrydoyouthinkbenefitsmorefromthistreaty?Why?
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3.HowdoyouthinkothercountriesintheworldviewedtheUnitedStatesafterthiswar?Make
aninference
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CHQ: Why did the U.S. fight the Barbary Pirates?
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Document E: Lessons From the Barbary Pirate Wars by Jeffrey Gettleman, April 11, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya An American skipper in the hands of seafaring rogues. Some of the
worlds busiest shipping lanes under attack. Tough men from a messy patch of Africa eluding
and harassing the worlds greatest powers.
Sound familiar? Well, its not last weeks drama on the high seas were talking about, when
Somali pirates attacked an American freighter in the Indian Ocean and took its captain hostage,
then made off with him in a lifeboat. Were talking about the Barbary Wars, about 200 years
ago, when pirates from the Barbary Coast (todays Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya)
hijacked European ships with impunity and ransomed back the crews.
When I first read about the Somali pirates, I almost did a double take and turned to my wife at
the breakfast table and said, This is dj vu, recalled Frank Lambert, a professor at Purdue
who is an expert on the Barbary pirates.
Dr. Lambert explained how those brigands, like todays Somalis, usually kept their hostages
alive. It wasnt out of any enlightened sense of humanity. It was simply good business. They
only hanged captives from giant hooks or carved them into little pieces if they resisted. The
Barbary pirates used small wooden boats, often powered by slaves chained to the oars, to attack
larger European ships. They were crude but effective, like todays Somali swashbucklers, who
in November commandeered a 1,000-foot-long Saudi oil tanker from a dinghy in the Gulf of
Aden, a vital shipping lane at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Photo

But the Barbary pirates bravado became their demise something the Somalis might keep in
mind.
The pirates way of doing business was described this way at the time: When they sprang to
the deck of an enemys ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth,
which usually struck such terror in the foe that they cried out for quarter at once. The quote is
from Thomas Jefferson, then Americas ambassador to France, after he and John Adams, the
envoy in London, got the description from Tripolis envoy to Britain in 1786.
Continue reading the main story
And that underscores a key point. The Barbary pirates actually had an ambassador who met
with Jefferson and Adams, no less. The pirates worked for a government. The Barbary rulers
commissioned them to rob and pillage and kidnap, and the rulers got a cut. It was all official.
And open. It was truly state-sponsored terrorism. And the Western nations response was to pay
tribute, a fancy word for blackmail.
If a country paid tribute, the 18th-century pirates would leave its ships alone. Today, shipping
companies fork over as much as $100 million in ransoms to the Somali pirates, a strategy that
saves their cargoes but also attracts more underemployed Somali fishermen into the hijacking
business.
The United States tried to play nice with the Barbary pirates and even inked a few treaties. That
language, too, has a striking ring. The Barbary States were Muslim, as is Somalia. And America
stressed that this was not about God.
The United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, a 1796
treaty reads. It has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of
Musselmen, which is how Muslims was spelled back then.

Eventually, though, Americans felt humiliated paying off a bunch of knife-sucking thugs in
blousy pants. Thats what led to the Barbary Wars, first in 1801 when Jefferson became
president, and again in 1815, when James Madison sent the United States Navy to shell the
Barbary Coast. The battles became the stuff of legend the shores of Tripoli in the Marine
Hymn and were critical in developing the nations young Navy.
They also figured early in the naval career of one William Bainbridge, an officer who was sent
to pay tribute to the dey of Algiers in 1800, was later captured during the war along with his
ship, and went on to become a hero of the War of 1812. Last week, in an irony probably lost on
the Somalis, it was a destroyer named after him that the United States Navy sent rushing to help
the skipper in the lifeboat.
The Barbary pirates were finally brought to their knees by their encounters with the Americans,
and by the French invasion of Algiers in 1830.
Will this happen in Somalia? Last week even before a French effort to rescue a family in a
separate hijacking ended with the death of one hostage Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton urged the world to end the scourge of piracy. But Somali piracy is not an isolated
problem. Its the latest symptom of what afflicts an utterly failed state a free-for-all on land
that has consumed the country since the central government imploded in 1991. As any warlord
there can tell you, the violence is almost always about cash. We just want the money is their
mantra.
If that sounds like the 1800s, it also invites talk of solving the problem the same way: pound the
bravado out of the pirates by taking the battle to them where it hurts most on shore. But any
effort to wipe out Somali pirate dens like Xarardheere or Eyl immediately conjures up the ghost
of Black Hawk Down, the episode in 1993 when clan militiamen in flip-flops killed 18
American soldiers. Until America can get over that, and until the world can put Somalia
together as a nation, another solution suggests itself: just steer clear way clear, like 500 miles
plus of Somalias seas.