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The Causes and Consequences of the First Barbary War 1801-1805

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The Causes and Consequences of the First Barbary War 1801-1805 The Causes and Consequences of the First Barbary War 1801-1805 Roel Monsieurs Erasmus University Rotterdam July 2016 Master Thesis Global History and International Relations Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Supervisor: F.M.M. de Goey Second reader: H.A.M. Klemann Student number: 358059 Student E-mail: [email protected] 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.1 Historiography ............................................................................................................................... 6 1.1.1 Introduction of debates ........................................................................................................... 6 1.1.2 Proposed reasons for the intervention against the Barbary States .......................................... 6 1.1.3 Perspectives on the legality of the Barbary Wars ................................................................... 9 1.1.4 The influence of Thomas Jefferson on decision-making ...................................................... 14 1.1.5 The long-term effects of the Barbary Wars on American society ........................................ 16 1.2 Research method used and nature of sources .............................................................................. 18 1.3 Limitations of research ................................................................................................................ 20 1.4 Academic Contribution ............................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 2: The historical context of the Barbary Wars .................................................................. 22 2.1 The early United States: Foreign policy and military affairs ...................................................... 22 2.1.1 The origins of the United States in the late eighteenth century ............................................ 22 2.1.2 The early nineteenth century and the Barbary threat ............................................................ 23 2.2 The early United States: Economy and trade .............................................................................. 26 2.2.1 Economic trends and principles ............................................................................................ 26 2.2.2 The Mediterranean trade ....................................................................................................... 28 2.3 History of the Barbary corsairs.................................................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Origins of Barbary Piracy ..................................................................................................... 30 2.3.2 Political Structure of the Barbary States............................................................................... 31 2.3.3 Foreign relations and the role of piracy ................................................................................ 32 2.4 The First Barbary War 1801-1805 .............................................................................................. 34 2.4.1 The outbreak of the war ........................................................................................................ 34 2.4.2 The first and second campaigns ........................................................................................... 35 2.4.3 The third and fourth campaigns ............................................................................................ 35 2.5 The Second Barbary War 1815 ................................................................................................... 37 2.5.1 The American campaign and Decatur’s success .................................................................. 37 2.5.2 The Anglo-Dutch campaign and the end of ‘White Slavery’ ............................................... 38 2 Chapter 3: Why the United States intervened against Tripoli ........................................................ 40 3.1 The moral foundations of the United States as causes for the wars ............................................ 40 3.2 Military reasons for the outbreak of the wars .............................................................................. 43 3.2.1 The weakness of the Barbary States as compared to the Western powers ........................... 44 3.2.2 The ongoing development of the American navy and the Barbary Wars ............................. 45 3.3 Economic reasons for the outbreak of the wars ........................................................................... 46 3.3.1 Domestic economic factors as reasons for going to war ...................................................... 47 3.3.2 The significance of the Mediterranean trade and the Barbary Wars .................................... 48 3.4 The role of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency in the outbreak of the wars ..................................... 51 3.4.1 Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary corsairs: early encounters ............................................. 51 3.4.2 Thomas Jefferson’s personal convictions as a reason for the wars ...................................... 53 3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 56 3.5.1 Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 56 Chapter 4: The long-term effects of the Barbary Wars ................................................................... 60 4.1 Changes to the self-image of the United States ........................................................................... 60 4.1.1 American self-confidence and the Barbary Wars ................................................................. 60 4.1.2 Decatur’s bold act as a symbol of national pride .................................................................. 62 4.2 Changes to the foreign policy of the United States ..................................................................... 63 4.2.1 Barbary influence on power dynamics between the president and Congress ....................... 64 4.2.2 The First Barbary War and dealing with foreign intimidation ............................................. 66 4.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 5: Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 71 5.1 Why the United States went to war against Tripoli ..................................................................... 71 5.2 The long-term effects on the United States ................................................................................. 73 5.3 The First Barbary War in the context of global history ............................................................... 74 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 76 Primary sources ................................................................................................................................. 76 Secondary sources ............................................................................................................................. 76 3 Chapter 1: Introduction This Master’s thesis focuses on the Barbary Wars, and more specifically the First Barbary War that transpired between the years 1801 and 1805. The First Barbary War was fought between the North-African Barbary State of Tripoli and the United States. The war broke out because American trade vessels had come under repeated attacks from corsairs operating within the Regency of Tripoli, which was officially part of the Ottoman Empire but which many scholars believe possessed a great degree of autonomy. Although the Barbary Regency of Tripoli is often referred to as a ‘state’, its actual status as an independent state is debatable. Nevertheless, since modern scholars refer to the Barbary Regencies as states, I will follow this line of thought to avoid needless confusion. I will however further elaborate on the difference between a state and a regency and the reasoning behind this distinction in my historiography.1 The principal reason I had for choosing this subject is the fact that the First Barbary War is widely considered to be the first case of transatlantic American military intervention. As a result of this, the war had considerable implications for the development of American foreign policy and the ways in which American values were put into practice after the war was concluded. The second reason I had for choosing this subject was more practical, namely the fact that there is a lot of literature to be found on the First Barbary War. This has allowed me to conduct my research more efficiently and in greater detail. Other potential subjects for my thesis were an analysis of the broader American-Ottoman relations in the nineteenth century and the treaty of commerce that was signed between both powers in 1862. I have, however, chosen to place the First Barbary War at the center of my research as this allowed me to make my analysis more focused while still being able to elaborate on the broader American policies in the same period, because naturally these wars did not exist within
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