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Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
· At 5, began studying under his cousins’ tutor.
· At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
· At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
· At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
· At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
· At 23, started his own law practice.
· At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
· At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights
of British America" and retired from his law practice.
· At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
· At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
· At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and
wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
· At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding
Patrick Henry.
· At 40, served in Congress for two years.
· At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated
commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben
Franklin and John Adams.
· At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George
Washington.
· At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of
the American Philosophical Society.
· At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active
head of Republican Party.
· At 57, was elected the third president of the United States .
· At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's
size.
· At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
· At 65, retired to Monticello .
· At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
· At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of
Virginia and served as its first president.
· At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the
Declaration of Independence along with John Adams
Thomas Jefferson knew because he-himself studied the previous failed
attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God,
his laws and the nature of man . That happens to be way more than what
most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the
past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the
brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement:
"This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in
the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we
shall become as corrupt as Europe .
Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are
willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A
principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from
too much government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government.
Thomas Jefferson
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood
of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas
which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties
than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to
control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation,
the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive
the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the
continent their fathers conquered.”
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First Barbary War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burning of the uss philadelphia.jpg
The burning frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804, by Edward Moran, painted 1897.
Date 1801–1805
Location Northwest African and Mediterranean coasts
Result American victory, peace treaty
Belligerents
United States
Sweden (until 1802)
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Ottoman vilayet of Tripoli
Flag of Morocco 1666 1915.svg Sultanate of Morocco
Commanders and leaders
United States Richard Dale
United States William Eaton
United States Edward Preble
Sweden Rudolf Cederström Yusuf Karamanli
Hassan Bey
Murad Reis
Strength
United States
7 Ships
8 US Marines in command of approx 500 Greek and Arab Mercenaries
Sweden
3 Frigates 4000
Casualties and losses
United States: 35 killed, 64 wounded
Greek/Arab Mercenaries: killed and wounded unknown estimated 800 dead, 1200 wounded at Derne plus ships and crew lost in naval defeats
v • d • e
First Barbary War
Action of 1 August 1801 - 1st Tripoli Harbor - Action of 22 June 1803 - 2nd Tripoli Harbor - Derne
v • d • e
Nineteenth century Atlantic/Mediterranean conflicts involving the United States
Quasi War
Action of 1 January 1800 - Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor - Siege of Curacao - Action of 12 October 1800 - Action of 25 October 1800
First Barbary War
Action of 1 August 1801 - First Battle of Tripoli Harbor - Action of 22 June 1803 - Second Battle of Tripoli Harbor - Battle of Derne
Chesapeake Affair
Little Belt Affair
War of 1812
Atlantic Naval Campaign
Second Barbary War
Battle off Cape Gata - Battle off Cape Palos
Anti-Piracy Operations
Patterson's Town Raid - Action of 31 August 1819 - Action of 26 August 1822 - Action of 9 November 1822 - Action of 2 March 1825 - Battle of Doro Passage - Action of 23 October 1827
St. Johns Affair
Second Seminole War
Battle of Wahoo Swamp - Battle of Jupiter Inlet
Veracruz Aff
Itapiru Incident - Paraguay expedition
Reform War
Battle of Anton Lizardo
American Civil War
Eastern Theater - Western Theater - Trans-Mississippi Theater - Lower Seaboard Theater - Battle of Cherbourg - Bahia Incident
Sinking of the Maine
Spanish-American War
Cuban Campaign - Puerto Rican Campaign
The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States of America and the North African Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States. These were the independent Sultanate of Morocco and Tripoli, which was a quasi-independent entity nominally belonging to the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Contents
* 1 Background and overview
* 2 Declaration of war and naval blockade
* 3 Battles
* 4 Peace treaty and legacy
* 5 Monument
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 Bibliography
* 9 Further reading
* 10 External links
Background and overview
Pirate ships and crews from the North African states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast), although nominally governed by the Ottoman Empire, were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and enslaving or ransoming their crews provided the Muslim rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power. In fact, the Roman Catholic Trinitarian Order or Order of "Mathurins" had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursing funds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates.
The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates’ attacks upon American merchant shipping in an attempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the United States to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various European states. Before the Treaty of Paris, which granted America’s independence from Great Britain, American shipping was protected by France during the Revolutionary years under the Treaty of Alliance (1775-1783). Although the treaty does not mention the Barbary States in name, it refers to common enemies between both the United States and France, which would include the Barbary States or pirates in general. As such, piracy against American shipping only began to occur after the end of the American Revolution, when the United States government lost its protection under the Treaty of Alliance.
This lapse of protection by a European power led to the first American merchant shipping seized after the Treaty of Paris. On October 11th, 1784, Moroccan pirates seized the brigantine Betsey. This first act of piracy against the United States ended in a positive light, as the Spanish government negotiated the freedom of the captured ship and crew; however, Spain offered advice to the United States over how to deal with the Barbary States. The advice was to offer tribute to prevent further attacks against merchant ships. Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson decided to send envoys to Morocco and Algeria to try to purchase treaties and the freedoms of the captured sailors held by Algeria. Morocco was the first Barbary Coast state to sign a treaty with the United States on June 23rd, 1786. This treaty formally ended all Moroccan piracy against American shipping interests. Specifically, Article 6 of the treaty states that if any captured Americans, be it done by Moroccans or by other Barbary Coast states dock at a Moroccan city, said Americans would be set free and be under the protection of the Moroccan state.
American diplomatic action with Algeria, the other major Barbary Coast state was much less successful than with Morocco. Algeria began piracy against the United States on July 25th, 1785 with the capture of the schooner Maria and the Dauphin a week later. All four Barbary Coast states demanded a sum of $660,000 compared to the limited allocated budget of $40,000 given to the envoys to achieve peace. Diplomatic talks to achieve a reasonable sum for tribute or for the ransom of the captured sailors struggled to reach any headway. The crews of the Maria and the Dauphin remained in captivity for over a decade, and soon were joined by other ships captured by the Barbary States. In 1795 Algeria came to an agreement with the United States that resulted in the release of 115 sailors they held, at the cost of over $1 million. This amount totaled about one sixth of the entire United States budget[8], and this amount was demanded as tribute by the Barbary States to prevent further piracy. The continuing demand for tribute ultimately led to the formation of the United States Department of the Navy, founded in 1798[9] in order to prevent further piracy attacks upon American shipping as well as to end the extremely large demand for tribute from the Barbary States.
Various letters and testimonies by captured sailors described their captivity as a form of slavery. Subtler forms of slavery occurred against American sailors before its independence, like with British impressers forcing American ships and crews to fight during the Napoleonic War. Being captured by Barbary Coast pirates was commonly described as being enslaved by the sailors, even though Barbary Coast imprisonment was different from slavery practiced by the United States and European powers of the time. Barbary Coast prisoners were able to obtain wealth and property, along with achieving status beyond that of a slave. One such example was James Leander Cathcart, who rose to the highest position a Christian slave can achieve in Algeria, ending up as an adviser to the Algerian Dey, or king. Even so, most captives were pressed into hard labor in the service of the Barbary pirates, and struggled under extremely poor conditions that exposed them to vermin and disease. As word of the poor treatment reached back, through freed captive narratives, or letters, to the United States, American civilians were pushing for more action to be done by the government to stop the piracy against her ships.
In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy in London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied:
It was written in their Qu'ran, 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 Muslim 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 reported the conversation to Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay, who submitted the Ambassador's comments and offer to Congress. Jefferson argued that paying tribute would encourage more attacks. Although John Adams agreed with Jefferson, he believed that circumstances forced the U.S. to pay tribute until an adequate navy could be built. The U.S. had just fought an exhausting war, which put the nation deep in debt. Federalist and Anti-Federalist forces argued over the needs of the country and the burden of taxation. Jefferson's own Democratic-Republicans and anti-navalists believed that the future of the country lay in westward expansion, with Atlantic trade threatening to siphon money and energy away from the new nation on useless wars in the Old World.[14] The U.S. paid Algiers the ransom, and continued to pay up to $1 million per year over the next 15 years for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. Payments in ransom and tribute to the privateering states amounted to 20 percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800.
Jefferson continued to argue for cessation of the tribute, with rising support from George Washington and others. With the recommissioning of the American navy in 1794 and the resulting increased firepower on the seas, it became increasingly possible for America to refuse paying tribute, although by now the long-standing habit was hard to overturn.
Declaration of war and naval blockade
On Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, Yusuf Karamanli, the Pasha (or Bashaw) of Tripoli, demanded $225,000 from the new administration. (In 1800, Federal revenues totaled a little over $10 million.) Putting his long-held beliefs into practice, Jefferson refused the demand. Consequently, in May 1801, the Pasha declared war on the United States, not through any formal written documents but in the customary Barbary manner of cutting down the flagstaff in front of the U.S. Consulate. Algiers and Tunis did not follow their ally in Tripoli.
In response, Jefferson sent a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean, and informed Congress. Although Congress never voted on a formal declaration of war, they did authorize the President to instruct the commanders of armed vessels of the United States to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli "and also to cause to be done all such other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war will justify."
Enterprise capturing Tripoli
The schooner USS Enterprise defeated the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair Tripoli after a fierce but one-sided battle on August 1, 1801.
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 American navy went unchallenged on the sea, but still the question remained undecided. Jefferson pressed the issue the following year, with an increase in military force and deployment of many of the navy's best ships to the region throughout 1802. USS Argus, USS Chesapeake, USS Constellation, USS Constitution, USS Enterprise, USS Intrepid, USS Philadelphia and USS Syren all saw service during the war under the overall command of Commodore Edward Preble. 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.
Battles
Main articles: Battle of Tripoli Harbor and Battle of Derne
Philadelphia aground off Tripoli, in 1803.
In October 1803, Tripoli's fleet was able to capture USS Philadelphia intact after the frigate ran aground 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, its captain, William Bainbridge, and all officers and crew were taken ashore and held as hostages. The Philadelphia was turned against the Americans and anchored in the harbor as a gun battery.
On the night of February 16, 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a small contingent of the U.S.'s first Marines in the captured Tripolitan ketch rechristened USS Intrepid, to deceive the guards on board the Philadelphia and float close enough to board the captured ship. Decatur's men stormed the vessel and overpowered the Tripolitan sailors standing guard. With support from American ships, the Marines set fire to the Philadelphia, denying her use to the enemy. The bravery in action of Lieutenant Stephen Decatur made him one of the first American military heroes since the Revolutionary War. The British Admiral Horatio Nelson, himself known as a man of action and bravery, is said to have called this "the most bold and daring act of the age."
Preble attacked Tripoli outright on July 14, 1804, in a series of inconclusive battles, including a courageous but unsuccessful attack by the fire ship USS Intrepid under Captain Richard Somers. Intrepid, packed with explosives, was to enter Tripoli harbor and destroy itself and the enemy fleet; it was destroyed, perhaps by enemy guns, before achieving that goal, killing Somers and his crew.
The turning point in the war came with the Battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Ex-consul William Eaton, who went by the rank of general, and US Marine First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines[17] and 500 Greek, Arab, and Berber mercenaries on a march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This is the first time in history that the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines' Hymn—"the shores of Tripoli."
Peace treaty and legacy
Wearied of the blockade and raids, and now under threat of a continued advance on Tripoli proper and a scheme to restore his deposed older brother Hamet Karamanli as ruler, Yussif Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 4, 1805. Article 2 of the Treaty reads:
The Bashaw of Tripoli shall deliver up to the American Squadron now off Tripoli, all the Americans in his possession; and all the Subjects of the Bashaw 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 Bashaw of Tripoli amounts to Three Hundred Persons, more or less; and the number of Tripolino Subjects in the power of the Americans to about, One Hundred more or less; The Bashaw 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.
In agreeing to pay a ransom of sixty thousand dollars for the American prisoners, the Jefferson administration drew a distinction between paying tribute and paying ransom. At the time, some argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war. William Eaton, however, remained bitter for the rest of his life about the treaty, feeling that his efforts had been squandered by the State Department diplomat Tobias Lear. Eaton and others felt that the capture of Derne should have been used as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of all American prisoners without having to pay ransom. Furthermore, Eaton believed the honor of the United States had been compromised when it abandoned Hamet Karamanli after promising to restore him as leader of Tripoli. Eaton's complaints generally fell on deaf ears, especially as attention turned to the strained international relations which would ultimately lead to the War of 1812.
The First Barbary War was beneficial to the military reputation of the United States. America's military command and war mechanism had been up to that time relatively untested. The First Barbary War showed 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 Georgians or New Yorkers. The United States Navy and Marines became a permanent part of the American government and American history, and Decatur returned to the U.S. as its first post-Revolutionary war hero.
However, the more immediate problem of Muslim Barbary piracy was not fully settled. By 1807, Algiers had gone back to taking American ships and seamen hostage. Distracted by the preludes to the War of 1812, the U.S. was unable to respond to the provocation until 1815, with the Second Barbary War. William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led the treaties to finally end all tribute payments for the United States.
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