First Barbary War

The First Barbary War (1801–1805, also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War) was one of two wars fought between the United States of America and the semiautonomous North African city-states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, known collectively as the Barbary States.

Legacy of war

The end of the Barbary War has been considered confusing. For it seems that the United States paid a further tribute to the Bashaw of Tripoli for captured soldiers.

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Article 2 of the Treaty reads:

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:"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 Amelicans 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."

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At the time, some argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war.

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The war is generally considered to have resulted in good for America. America's military command and war mechanism had been up to that time relatively untested. The First Barbary War proved that America could execute a war far from home, and that American forces had the cohesion to fight together as Americans rather than Georgians or New Yorkers. The United States Navy and Marines became a permanent part of the American government and the American mythos, and Decatur returned to the U.S. as its first post-Revolutionary war hero. And the gains of the war furthered the confidence of Thomas Jefferson to regard any threat to the liberty of the American people an act of war and furthered his conclusion that war is the only way to sustain liberty.

Related Topics:
United States Navy - Marines

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The more immediate problem of Barbary piracy, however, 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 Americans were unable to respond to the provocation until 1815, with the Second Barbary War.

Related Topics:
1807 - 1815 - Second Barbary War

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