The Barbary Wars 1801-1829

The Barbary Wars 1801-1829. Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park. , The Barbary States were a collection of North African states, many of which practiced state-supported piracy in order to exact tribute from weaker Atlantic power Morocco was an independent kingdom, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli owed a loose allegiance to the Ottoman Empire The United States fought two separate wars with Tripoli (1801-1805) and Algiers (1815-1816), although at other times it preferred to pay tribute to obtain the release of captives held in the Barbary States. , , In 1812, the new Dey of Algiers, Haji Ali, rejected the American tribute negotiated in the 1795 treaty as insufficient and declared war on the United States. Algerian corsairs captured an American ship several weeks later. In accordance with an agreement between the Dey and British diplomats, the Algerian declaration to coincide with the start of the War of 18 12 between Britain and the United States. The war with Britain denied the U.S. Government from either confronting Algerian forces or ransoming U.S. captives in Algiers. Once the Treaty of Ghent ended war with Britain, President James Madison was able to request that Congress declare an authorization of force on Algiers. which it did on March 3, 1815. The U.S. Navy greatly increased in size after the War of 18 12, was able send an entire squadron, led by Commodore Stephen Decatur, to the Mediterranean. , , The adoption of the Constitution in 1789 gave the U.S. Government the power to levy taxes and to raise and maintain armed forces, powers which had been lacking under the Articles of Confederation. In 1794, in response to Algerian seizures of American ships, Congress authorized construction of thè first 6 ships of the U.S. Navy. In 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli, Yusuf Qaramanli, citing late payments of tribute, demanded additional tribute and declared war on the United States. The United States successfülly defeated Qaramanli’s forces with a combined naval and land assault by the United States Marine Corps. The U.S. treaty with Tripoli concluded in 1805 included a ransom for American prisoners in Tripoli, but no provisions for tribute. , , When the U.S. naval expedition arrived in Algiers, a new ruler, Dey Omar, was in power Omar wished to restore order after several years of political instability and was acutely aware that he could no longer count on British support against the Americans. Decatur had already defeated two Algerian warships and captured hundreds, of prisoners of war, and was in a favorable position for negotiation. Dey Omar reluctantly accepted the treaty proposed by Decatur that called for an exchange of U.S. and Algerian prisoners and an end to the practices of tribute and ransom. Having defeated the most powerful of the Barbary States, Decatur sailed to Tunis and Tripoli and obtained similar treaties. In Tripoli, Decatur also secured from Pasha Qaramanli the rèlease of all European captives. The U.S. Senate ratified Decatur's Algerian treaty on December 5, 1815. Dey Omar repudiated the treaty, but another U.S. squadron arrived after a combined Anglo-Dutch bombardment of Algiers and U.S. commissioner William Shaler dictated terms of a new treaty which contained essentially the same, provisions as the old one, Shaler concluded his negotiations on December 23, 1815, but the Senate, owing to an accidental oversight, did not ratify the treaty until February 11, 1822. , , The Barbary States, although they did not capture any more U.S. ships, began to resume raids in the Mediterranean, and despite punitive British bombardements did not end their practice until the French conquest of Algeria in 1830. , , (Caption) , Burning of the Frigate Philadelphia . This historical marker was erected by Hillsborough County. It is in Tampa in Hillsborough County Florida