The Barbary Wars

Pirates!!!

Pirates!

• For more than 200 years, Pirate ships and crews from Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast) were ravaging ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

Pirates!

• The Pirates would board private merchant ships, raid them, and take the crew hostage. The crews would be held hostage until their country would pay ransom for their release.

What would you do if you were a ruler of Great Britain, France,

etc…

• ????

What would you do if you were a ruler of Great Britain, France,

etc…• As this became more

frequent countries found it easier to make treaties and pay tributes to the pirate states.

America and Barbary Pirates

• America was protected from the pirates, under the treaties and tributes paid by Great Britain…

America and Barbary Pirates

• America was protected from the pirates, under the treaties and tributes paid by Great Britain…UNTIL WE GAINED OUR INDEPENDENCE.

Presidents and the Pashas

• During the presidency of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson led the tribute treaty negotiations.

Presidents and the Pashas• Adams favored paying off the

corsairs as an expedient and inexpensive way to continue American commerce in the Mediterranean.

• Jefferson disagreed - Seeing no end to the demands for tribute, he advocated assembling a league of trading nations – an 18th century “coalition of the willing,” to quell Barbary piracy by force.

Presidents and the Pashas

• Adams carried the day, however, and the U.S. paid the tribute.

Jefferson and the Barbary coast

• Upon taking office President Jefferson was faced with the pasha of Tripoli demanding a large tribute. When Jefferson refused to pay the tribute, the pasha of Tripoli declared war on America (May 1801). America and Tripoli were engaged in this war for four years.

Jefferson and the Barbary coast

• Jefferson chose to contest the piracy by force. Acting “unilaterally,” the United States dispatched its forces across the Atlantic. A series of blockades, bombardments and other engagements ensued.

The Barbary Wars

End game…

• Wearied of the blockade and raids, and now under threat of a continued advance on Tripoli proper Tripoli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 10, 1805.

• Although the Senate did not approve the treaty until the following year, this effectively ended the First Barbary War.

The sequel will be premiering soon at a theater near you…

• This time it’s personal…