European countries paid exorbitant fees to Barbary Pirates so their countries’ ships would not be taken.
America was covered under British tribute payments until the Revolution.
President Obama remarked in Cairo, June 4, 2009:
"The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco.”
Morocco recognized U.S. independence by demanding it pay its own tribute.
They captured American merchant ship Betsey in 1784 and held sailors in harsh conditions until America paid $30,000 in ransom, equivalent to $6 million in today.
The politically-correct Kid’s Encyclopedia Facts website (accessed 4/8/26) has the entry “Moroccan seizure of the Betsey facts for kids”:
“Moroccan Sultan, Mohammed ben Abdallah, wanted to be friends with the new American nation … (so) in the fall of 1784, he ordered his navy to … capture an American ship.”
In 1785, Barbary pirates captured the Dauphin and Maria Boston, enslaving sailors in Algiers for 11 years.
Sailor James Leander Cathcart described beatings on bare feet called “bastinado.”
Future Chief Justice John Jay wrote to the President of Congress Richard Henry Lee, October 13, 1785:
"Algerian Corsairs and the Pirates of Tunis and Tripoli (rally Americans) ... the more we are ill-treated abroad the more we shall unite and consolidate at home."
From 1784 to 1816, Barbary pirates captured 37 American ships and 700 sailors.
Ben Franklin wrote in his last published letter in the Federal Gazette, March 23, 1790, that there were: “… about 50,000 slaves in and near Algiers.”
Thomas Jefferson, serving as U.S. Minister to France, met with the ambassador from Tripoli, Abdrahaman, and asked why Muslim pirates were capturing American ships.
Jefferson shared his response with John Jay, U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, March 28, 1786:
"The ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of the prophet, it was written in their Qur'an, 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."
Regarding the ransom of American sailors, Jefferson wrote to William Carmichael, U.S. diplomat in Spain:
"Mr. Adams and I had conferences with a Tripoline ambassador, named Abdrahaman. He asked from us thirty thousand guineas for a peace with his court."
Jefferson told John Jay, 1787:
"There is an Order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institution is to beg alms for the redemption of captives ...
They keep members always in Barbary, searching out the captives of their country, and redeem … on better terms than any other body …
Their agency might be obtained for the redemption of our prisoners at Algiers ...
The General ... of the Order ... told me that their last considerable redemption was of about 300 prisoners who cost them somewhat upwards of 1,500 livres apiece ... (but) it must be absolutely unknown that the public concern themselves in the operation or the price would be greatly enhanced."
Jefferson continued:
"If Congress decide to redeem our captives ... it is of great importance that the first redemption be made at as low a price as possible, because it will form the future tariff.
If these pirates find that they can have a very great price for Americans, they will abandon proportionally their pursuits against other nations to direct them towards ours."
Congress directed Jefferson and Adams to borrow $80,000 from Dutch bankers to make the extortion tribute payment.
In 1793, when the American cargo ship Polly was captured, the Barbary captain said it was:
“... for your history and superstition in believing in a man who was crucified by the Jews and disregarding the true doctrine of God’s last and greatest prophet, Mohammed.”
The crew was stripped, chained, and paraded through the streets.
By 1793, Algerine corsairs captured 11 more ships, including Dispatch, Hope, Jay, Jane, Mary, Minerva, and Olive Branch.
Jefferson had written earlier to Horatio Gates, December 13, 1784:
"Our trade to Portugal, Spain, and the Mediterranean is annihilated unless we do something decisive. Tribute or war is the usual alternative of these pirates.
If we yield the former, it will require sums which our people will feel. Why not begin a navy then and decide on war?”
The U.S. Navy had been disbanded after the Revolutionary War, but the attacks from Barbary pirates caused President Washington to re-established it in 1794.
By 1800, the U.S. was paying $2 million in “protection” money, nearly 20 percent of the annual Federal budget.
In 1801, immediately after becoming the third President, Jefferson received a demand from Barbary pirates for $225,000, plus an annual tribute of $25,000.
When Jefferson refused, the Pasha of Tripoli, Yusuf Qaramanli, declared war -- the first war the U.S. was in after becoming a nation.
Jefferson explained in his First Annual Message, December 8, 1801:
"Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to (declare) war on our failure to comply before a given day.
The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack ...”
Jefferson continued:
"Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded and that of the Atlantic in peril ... The arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger.
One of the Tripolitan cruisers having … engaged the small schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret … was captured, after a heavy slaughter of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part.
The bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a testimony to the world."
In 1803, Jefferson sent a larger American force, led by Commodore Edward Preble to deal with Morocco.
The new 36-gun USS Philadelphia was cruising Morocco’s shallow coast when it ran aground.
Pirates surrounded it and imprisoned Captain William Bainbridge with his 307-man crew for 19 months.
To prevent the USS Philadelphia from being used by Muslim pirates, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur sailed his ship, Intrepid, into Tripoli’s harbor on the night of February 16, 1804.
He set fire to the captured Philadelphia then fled out of the harbor.
It was described as the "most bold and daring act of the age."
In 1804, Jefferson sent over Commodore Samuel Barron and in 1805, Commodore John Rogers.
In a daring mission, Captain William Eaton, Marine Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon and Midshipman George Mann led a mixed force of 500 marines, Greeks and Arabs on a 500-mile march from Alexandria, Egypt, across the Libyan desert to capture the port city of Derna, April 27, 1805.
This major victory forced the Pasha to make a new treaty on April 12, 1806.
In exchange for $60,000 and 89 captured Muslim prisoners, the crew of the Philadelphia was released.
Lieutenant O’Bannon was presented with a curved Mameluke sword, which became the official Marine officer’s sword.
Popular tradition is that U.S. Marines were called "leathernecks" for the wide leather straps worn around their necks to prevent from being beheaded, as Sura 47:4 instructs Islamic warriors: "When you meet the infidel in the battlefield, strike off their heads."
The Marine Anthem begins with the line: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli."
Of America’s victories, Christopher Hitchens wrote in "Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates” (City Journal, 2007):
"Of the First Barbary War to suppress the Muslim Barbary pirates along the southern Mediterranean coast, ending their kidnapping of Europeans for ransom and slavery, Pope Pius VII declared that the United States 'had done more for the cause of Christianity than the most powerful nations of Christendom have done for ages.'"
Francis Scott Key wrote a victory song to the same tune that nine years later he would use for the Star-Spangled Banner.
It was titled "When the Warrior Returns from the Battle Afar," published in Boston's Independent Chronicle, December 30, 1805:
“And pale beamed the Crescent, its splendor obscur'd;
By the light of the Star-Spangled Flag of our nation;
Where each flaming star gleamed a meteor of war;
And the turban'd head bowed to the terrible glare.”
The Islamic term for treaty is "hudna," which means, when weak make treaties till you get strong enough to disregard them.
Barbary powers disregarded the treaty and captured more American ships, resulting in the Second Barbary War in 1815 under fourth President James Madison.
Congress authorized naval action coordinated with six European countries to fight Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
Commodore Stephen Decatur led 10 warships to the Mediterranean, followed by 20 warships led by Commodore William Bainbridge, the same commander who had been captured from the USS Philadelphia and made a Barbary prisoner for 19 months.
After a resounding victory, they forced the Dey of Algiers, along with Tunis and Tripoli, to release prisoners, stop demanding tribute, and pay damages.
Frederick C. Leiner wrote in The End of the Barbary Terror--America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa, 2007:
"Commodore Stephen Decatur and diplomat William Shaler withdrew to consult in private ... Algerians were believed to be masters of duplicity, willing to make agreements and break them as they found convenient ...
Decatur and … Bainbridge both recognized that the peace could only be kept by force or the threat of force."
The annotated John Quincy Adams--A Bibliography, 1830, stated:
"Our gallant Commodore Stephen Decatur had chastised the pirate of Algiers ... The Dey Omar Bashaw ... disdained to conceal his intentions;
'My power,' said he, 'has been wrested from my hands; draw ye the treaty at your pleasure, and I will sign it; but beware of the moment, when I shall recover my power, for with that moment, your treaty shall be wastepaper.'"
In 1816, Barbary pirates again broke their treaty.
This time, Dutch and British ships, under Sir Edward Pellew, bombarded Algiers, forcing them to release 3,000 European prisoners.
Algiers reneged on the treaty again, continuing piracy and slave-taking, causing the British to bombard them again in 1824.
It was not until 1830, when the French conquered Algiers and established the French Foreign Legion did Barbary piracy cease.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote in Fear God and Take Your Own Part, 1916:
"Centuries have passed since any war vessel … has shown such ruthless brutality toward noncombatants ...
The Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast behaved at times in similar fashion until the civilized nations joined in suppressing them."
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A Treaty of Tripoli in 1798 failed.
Christopher Hitchens wrote in his article "Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates":
"Of course, those secularists like myself who like to cite this treaty must concede that its conciliatory language was part of America's attempt to come to terms with Barbary demands."
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Jefferson read the Qur'an, not out of devotion, but to understand why Muslims were attacking Americans unprovoked.
The word Islam means submission to Allah, and a Muslim is one who has submitted to Allah.
Islam is a religion of peace, it is just the Islamic definition of "peace" is different.
To someone raised in Western Civilization, "peace" is achieved when different groups get along.
In fundamentalist Islam, "peace" is when everyone is submitted to Allah.
Essentially, to a fundamentalist Muslim, "world peace" means "world Islam."
Lincoln gave an example of one word having two different meanings in his address at the Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864:
"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing."
A moderate Muslim believes the world will submit to Allah later, maybe in the distant future or at the end of the world, and since it is so far off, they are not preoccupied with it and are non-violent.
A fundamentalist or "Islamist" Muslim believes the world is supposed to submit to Allah now, and they are excited to help make it happen.
This is referred to as becoming radicalized.
The dilemma for Western Civilization is, the more it shows itself welcoming and tolerant, the more a percentage of moderate Muslims begin to rethink that maybe the world is actually submitting to Allah now rather than later.
They gravitate from the "future" non-violent mindset into the radicalized "now" mindset.
In other words, the nicer the West is, the more violent Islamists become. It is the law of the jungle - weakness invites aggression.
This reflects a fundamentalist attitude, that when your enemy is strong, retreat; when your enemy is weak, attack.
When an Islamist senses fear in the heart of their enemy, they take it as a sign that Allah wants them to attack their enemy.
Psychologist Nicolai Sennels explained it this way (Hapeles Orthodox Jewish Newspaper, July 5, 2016):
"Muslims instinctively see our lack of reaction as fear, its an invitation to attack."
Another word which has a different definition is the word "innocent."
In sharia Islam, it is wrong to kill the innocent, but the definition of innocent is a faithful follower of the way of Allah.
Those who reject sharia are not faithful followers, therefore they are not innocent:
- "Allah loveth not those who reject Faith" (Sura 3:32);
- "Be ruthless to the infidels" (Sura 48:29);
- "Make war on the infidels (Sura 9:123; 66:9);
- "Fight those who believe not in Allah" (Sura 9:29);
- "Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (Sura 2:191).
Saying it is wrong to kill the innocent is code for saying it is wrong to kill faithful Muslims.
Fundamentalist Muslims accuse moderate Muslims of being unfaithful, of having backslidden from the way of Allah, of not following the example of Mohammed and the Rightly Guided Caliphs.
Islamists are just as motivated to kill a moderate Muslim as they are to kill an infidel.
Lawrence of Arabia wrote of sharia Islamists in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922:
"Wahhabis, followers of a fanatical Moslem heresy, had imposed their strict rules ... Everything was forcibly pious or forcibly puritanical."
Winston Churchill wrote in The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (Dover Publications, 1898):
"The Mad Mullah was ... a wild enthusiast, convinced ... of his divine mission ... preached a crusade, or Jehad, against the infidel ...
It is ... impossible for the modern European to fully appreciate the force which fanaticism exercises among an ignorant, warlike and Oriental population.
Several generations have elapsed since the nations of the West have drawn the sword in religious controversy, and the evil memories of the gloomy past have soon faded ...
Indeed it is evident that Christianity ... must always exert a modifying influence on men's passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination ...
But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance.
It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness ..."
Churchill continued:
"In a moment ... fear of death itself ... flung aside ... seizing their weapons, they become Ghazis -- as dangerous and as sensible as mad dogs: fit only to be treated as such ...
Tribesmen become convulsed in an ecstasy of religious bloodthirstiness ... Poorer and more material souls derive additional impulses from ... plunder and the joy of fighting. Thus whole nations are roused to arms."
Ronald Reagan wrote in his autobiography, An American Life (Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 409):
"Radical fundamentalist sects ... have institutionalized murder and terrorism in the name of God, promising followers instant entry into paradise if they die for their faith or kill an enemy who challenges it.
Twice in recent years, America has lost loyal allies in the Middle East, the Shah of Iran and Anwar Sadat, at the hands of these fanatics ..."
Reagan added:
"I don't think you can overstate the importance that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism will have to the rest of the world in the century ahead --
especially if, as seems possible, its most fanatical elements get their hands on nuclear and chemical weapons and the means to deliver them against their enemies."
On August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon warned of the Middle East:
"... that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
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Image Credits: Public Domain; Edward Moran (1829–1901); Burning of the Frigate Philadelphia in the Harbor of Tripoli; Blue pencil.svg wikidata:Q966864; USS Philadelphia, previously captured by the Tripolitans, ablaze after she was boarded by Stephen Decatur and 60 men and set afire, making their escape in the ketch Intrepid, depicted in the foreground; Date: 1897; Collection: U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection; Object history: Gift of Paul E. Sutro, 1940; Inscriptions: signed and dated by the artist; Source/Photographer: Naval History and Heritage Command: Photo #: KN-10849; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burning_of_the_uss_philadelphia.jpg
Amazing revelations … Far more than I ever read/learned in school. I would be extremely surprised if the Barbary Wars are even mentioned in what passed for History Instruction today!
Before I retired as a dialysis nurse, I frequently engaged in friendly debates with one of my Pakistani Muslim nephrologists. I reminded him that as a moderate Muslim he too would be killed by the radicalized Muslims. I reassured him the radicals were afraid to attack our city of Decatur, Illinois…named after Stephen Decatur.