After the Revolutionary War it became incumbent upon this nascent independent nation to be prepared to fight for it's survival.
1. March 27, 1794 The House of Representatives passed an act authorizing the creation of a US Navy, with the procurement of six frigates.
Four of the ships would be classified as the 44 gun Frigate Class and two would be of the 38 gun Frigate class:
USS United States 44 guns Built in Phila. Launched May 10, 1797
USS Constellation 38 Balt. Sept. 7, 1797
USS Constitution 44 Bost. Oct. 21, 1997
USS Chesapeake 38 Gasport, Va. June 20, 1799
USS Congress 44 New Hamp. Aug. 15, 1799
USS President 44 New York April 1, 1800
2. Why was this necessary?
According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries
Davis, Robert. "Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 15001800"
3. In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). When they inquired "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 Koran, 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.
"American Peace Commissioners to John Jay," March 28, 1786, "Thomas Jefferson Papers," Series 1. General Correspondence. 16511827, Library of Congress. LoC: March 28, 1786 (handwritten).
^ Making of America Project; Philip Gengembre Hubert (1872). The Atlantic monthly. Atlantic Monthly Co.. p. 413 (typeset) (some sources confirm this wording,[15][16] other sources report this quotation with slight differences in wording
4. Ransoming Americans was no less expensive, and therefore was a very profitable trade for the Muslim terrorists. Additionally, the Muslim nations would sign treaties with the attacked nations, including America, providing that for an annual "tribute" (perhaps $1 million a year, along with the "gift" of several frigates), that they would perhaps refrain from further attacks. By 1795, such "peace" payments to Muslim terrorists comprised a full sixteen percent of the entire federal budget!
America's First War With Muslims...Should Have Been The Last! - Patriot Action Network
5. "The First Barbary War (18011805), also known as the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Coast War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States and the Northwest African Berber Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States,.... Thomas Jefferson refused to pay the high tributes demanded by the Barbary states and because they were seizing American merchant ships and enslaving the crews for high ransoms. It was the first declared war the United States fought on foreign land and seas."
First Barbary War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That war ended.......
....didn't it?
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana
1. March 27, 1794 The House of Representatives passed an act authorizing the creation of a US Navy, with the procurement of six frigates.
Four of the ships would be classified as the 44 gun Frigate Class and two would be of the 38 gun Frigate class:
USS United States 44 guns Built in Phila. Launched May 10, 1797
USS Constellation 38 Balt. Sept. 7, 1797
USS Constitution 44 Bost. Oct. 21, 1997
USS Chesapeake 38 Gasport, Va. June 20, 1799
USS Congress 44 New Hamp. Aug. 15, 1799
USS President 44 New York April 1, 1800
2. Why was this necessary?
According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries
Davis, Robert. "Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 15001800"
3. In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). When they inquired "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 Koran, 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.
"American Peace Commissioners to John Jay," March 28, 1786, "Thomas Jefferson Papers," Series 1. General Correspondence. 16511827, Library of Congress. LoC: March 28, 1786 (handwritten).
^ Making of America Project; Philip Gengembre Hubert (1872). The Atlantic monthly. Atlantic Monthly Co.. p. 413 (typeset) (some sources confirm this wording,[15][16] other sources report this quotation with slight differences in wording
4. Ransoming Americans was no less expensive, and therefore was a very profitable trade for the Muslim terrorists. Additionally, the Muslim nations would sign treaties with the attacked nations, including America, providing that for an annual "tribute" (perhaps $1 million a year, along with the "gift" of several frigates), that they would perhaps refrain from further attacks. By 1795, such "peace" payments to Muslim terrorists comprised a full sixteen percent of the entire federal budget!
America's First War With Muslims...Should Have Been The Last! - Patriot Action Network
5. "The First Barbary War (18011805), also known as the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Coast War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States and the Northwest African Berber Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States,.... Thomas Jefferson refused to pay the high tributes demanded by the Barbary states and because they were seizing American merchant ships and enslaving the crews for high ransoms. It was the first declared war the United States fought on foreign land and seas."
First Barbary War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That war ended.......
....didn't it?
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana