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Transporting goods across the Atlantic took many days and posed many risks to merchant vessels. As a fledgling nation, the U. International disputes required the U. At the time, bribery was a common diplomatic practice of many countries. Congress and the American public were outraged. Adams was able to avert a declaration of war by his diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace with France. Negotiations broke down and an undeclared war, known as the Quasi-War, erupted between the two countries. There were few engagements, mainly at sea. France made great use of letters of marque and reprisal, seizing more than 2, U. President Thomas Jefferson preferred diplomacy to war in his approach to international relations. Early in his administration, he sought to reduce the size of the armed forces fearing that a large army and navy would invite dictatorship. Since virtually all economic trade between the US and other nations was via maritime channels, mercantile ships were often targeted on all sides of conflicts, by naval forces and privateers. Jefferson sought other means to protect American shipping. They would capture vessels, seize cargoes and hold crews for ransom or for use as slaves. Before the American Revolution, ships from the American colonies were generally safe from pirates because Great Britain paid the pirates the extortions they demanded. After the colonies won independence from Britain, U. This loss forced early U. Leaders along the Barbary Coast saw this opportunity to extort larger tributes for safe passage of ships. Tripoli declared war on the U. The First Barbary War, from to , involved extensive use of letters of marque and reprisal, on both sides of the conflict. Ships were seized by all sides. After four years of fighting, the US signed a treaty with Tripoli. The U. To ensure safe passage of its vessels, the U. Britain blockaded French coasts to prevent shipping into France. Napoleon I retaliated by issuing the Berlin Decree in May , which imposed an embargo against British trade, prohibiting the import of British goods by European allies or dependent on France. All trade and connections were severed, even the mail. Napoleon planned to defeat Britain by choking its vital ability to trade. Mercantile interests in many countries, including the U. However, U. To capitalize on this, Britain and France captured U. Britain detained more than 1, U. This infuriated the American people and prompted calls for retaliation. Tensions intensified, culminating in when the British frigate Leopard stopped the American ship, Chesapeake, off the Virginia coast and demanded to search it. Jefferson ordered all British ships to leave U. He felt that British and French reliance on American products would convince one or both nations to negotiate with the U. In enforcing the embargo, the U. The impact on Britain from the Continental Blockade and the U. Embargo Act was limited. Enforcement of the embargo was weak and encouraged British merchants to seek new markets. Similarly, the Earl of Mornington , an East India Company packet ship of only six guns, too carried a letter of marque. Afterwards, as they were on their way to China, the same three East Indiamen participated in an action in the Straits of Malacca. They came upon a French frigate , with some six or seven British [ clarification needed ] prizes, replenishing her water casks ashore. The three British vessels immediately gave chase. The frigate fled towards the Sunda Strait. The Indiamen were able to catch up with a number of the prizes, and, after a few cannon shots, were able to retake them. Had they not carried letters of marque, such behaviour might well have qualified as piracy. Additionally, vessels with a letter of marque were exempt from having to sail in convoy, and nominally their crew members were exempt, during a voyage, from impressment. During the Napoleonic Wars there were also two cases Dart and Kitty , where British privateers spent some months off the coast of Sierra Leone hunting slave-trading vessels. The procedure for issuing letters of marque and the issuing authority varied by time and circumstance. In colonial America, for instance, colonial governors issued them in the name of the king. During the American War of Independence, first the state legislatures, then both the states and the Continental Congress, then, after ratification of the Constitution , Congress authorized and the President signed letters of marque. A shipowner would send in an application stating the name, description, tonnage, and force armaments of the vessel, the name and residence of the owner, and the intended number of crew, and tendered a bond promising strict observance of the country's laws and treaties and of international laws and customs. The commission was granted to the vessel, not to its captain, often for a limited time or specified area, and stated the enemy upon whom attacks were permitted. The details of the ship, including tonnage, crew and weapons were recorded. Prizes were assessed and valued with profits split in pre agreed proportions between the government, the owners and the captain and crew. A letter of marque and reprisal in effect converted a private merchant vessel into a naval auxiliary. A commissioned privateer enjoyed the protection and was subject to the obligations of the laws of war. If captured, the crew was entitled to honorable treatment as prisoners of war, while without the licence they were deemed mere pirates " at war with all the world ," criminals who were properly hanged. For this reason, enterprising maritime raiders commonly took advantage of " flag of convenience " letters of marque, shopping for cooperative governments to license and legitimize their depredations. The letter of marque by its terms required privateers to bring captured vessels and their cargoes before admiralty courts of their own or allied countries for condemnation. Applying the rules and customs of prize law , the courts decided whether the letter of marque was valid and current, and whether the captured vessel or its cargo in fact belonged to the enemy not always easy, when flying false flags was common practice , and if so the prize and its cargo were "condemned", to be sold at auction with the proceeds divided among the privateer's owner and crew. A prize court's formal condemnation was required to transfer title; otherwise the vessel's previous owners might well reclaim her on her next voyage, and seek damages for the confiscated cargo. Often questions arose as to the legitimacy of the letter of marque in the case of divided sovereignty during civil wars. An English court, for instance, refused to recognize the letters of marque issued by rebellious Ireland under James II , and hanged eight privateer captains as pirates. Seventy-nine years later during the American Civil War , the Union charged officers and crew of the Confederate privateer Savannah with piracy, calling their letter of marque invalid since the Union refused to acknowledge the breakaway Confederacy as a sovereign nation. Privateers were also required by the terms of their letters of marque to obey the laws of war, honour treaty obligations avoid attacking neutrals , and in particular to treat captives as courteously and kindly as they safely could. Nations often agreed by treaty to forgo privateering, as England and France repeatedly did starting with the diplomatic overtures of Edward III in ; privateering nonetheless recurred in every war between them for the next years. Benjamin Franklin had attempted to persuade the French to lead by example and stop issuing letters of marque to their corsairs, but the effort foundered when war loomed with Britain once again. In the absence of proper letters, a privateer was tantamount to a pirate. Although privateers allegedly existed in order to support the defense of their sovereigns, they frequently acquired much personal wealth through their activities. In addition, since privateers were not subject to the same discipline as a regular navy, they yielded to the temptation to seize ships beyond the scope of their authority. Such abuses, and new theories of naval warfare led civilized nations, in , to sign an agreement outlawing privateering. The agreement does not prohibit a state from organizing a voluntary navy of private vessels, which are under the dominion and control of the state. Letter of marque - Wikipedia

Abraham Lincoln was authorized to issue letters of marque, but both sides preferred to arm their own merchantmen as regular warships. The rise of the professional American navy at the end of the 19th century and the American embrace of the sea power doctrines of Alfred Thayer Mahan finally led the U. It was agreed, after a vain attempt to solve the question in a way satisfactory to all parties, that the subject of conversion on the high seas was outside the scope of the Declaration of Paris. The raising of merchant vessels to the status of warships led to difficulty in distinguishing between volunteer warships and privateers. That subject was made one of those for settlement by the Second Hague Conference in Several conventions on naval warfare in respect to merchant vessels at sea were adopted, but the one setting up an international prize court to hear appeals from belligerent prize courts was never ratified. The rules adopted were as follows:. The ambiguous status of the privateer has ceased to exist, and letters of marque are no longer issued, as belligerent countries now assume full responsibility for all converted ships engaged in military operations. Letter of marque Article Media Additional Info. Print Cite. Facebook Twitter. Give Feedback External Websites. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article requires login. External Websites. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree See Article History. Sir Francis Drake, oil on panel, after an engraving attributed to Jodocus Hondius, c. Get exclusive access to content from our First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today. A merchant ship converted into a warship cannot have the rights and duties appertaining to vessels having that status unless it is placed under the direct authority, immediate control, and responsibility of the power the flag of which it flies. By then the U. With the cessation of hostilities, U. Having previously fought a war against the Barbary States, the U. President Madison saw the use of force as necessary to end this scourge that was threatening the high seas. His decision to use force was popular with the American public. On May 20, , the first of two squadrons set sail toward the Barbary ships. They were led by Stephen Decatur, known for his heroics in the prior conflict. In two battles the U. The victory was so thorough that the second squadron never saw action. Similar treaties were signed with the leaders of Tunis and Tripoli. A year later, Britain sent a squadron to attack Algiers. After peace was negotiated, thousands of slaves were freed, many of whom had been held for years. Many privateers began to abuse their authority under the Letter of Marque and Reprisal, seizing ships and wealth well beyond their scope of authority under the commissions they had been granted. The Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, executed as part of the treaty ending the Crimean War, effectively ended privateering in most countries. Britain led the effort to ban privateering, having suffered the loss of many ships to foreign forces in various wars of the early 19 th Century. The ban on privateering was binding only on the parties that signed the Declaration. Other nations continued issuing letters of marque. Although the U. While such powers have not been used by the U. Much of the debate centers on whether the Marque and Reprisal Clause extends only to authorizing private parties — the privateers — to engage in reprisals for private gain, or whether it also gives Congress the power to authorize reprisals by United States armed forces for public purposes. However, neither Congress nor the President formally authorized these airships to operate under a commission of marque and reprisal. The proposed legislation compared terrorists to pirates and recognized the difficulty of fighting terrorism by traditional military means. In April , a similar bill was introduced to apply such authority against Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden. Both bills failed to pass. Letters of marque and reprisal typically contain details to identify the targets of the seizure, the types of goods to be seized, and direction for the holding and disposition of the seized items. Also, the process allows prosecution of individuals who violate the terms and scope of the authority. The marque and reprisal system allows the government to leverage its might through the use of private mechanisms to supplement official forces. He is a member of the SanctionsAlert. Burton Stevenson, 10th ed. Both privateers and pirates are known for seizing ships on the high seas for profit. Technically, privateers operated under a formal grant of authority such as a letter of marque and reprisal. Pirates, on the other hand, lacked such formal authority and were considered lawless by most countries. Over time, many privateers found the practice of seizing vessels on the high seas so lucrative, that they began to seize ships well beyond the scope of their mandates under the letters of marque and reprisal and essentially became pirates in their own right. Piracy was treated as a criminal offense and privateers who were captured by enemy forces were often subjected to similar penalties as pirates. Over time, the distinction between privateers and pirates would become blurred. Bryan R. It is no secret that choosing to voluntarily disclose is considered a strong mitigating factor by Read More. However, this outsourcing of services often includes a variety of potential compliance risks, both with regard to trade controls and many other Though a business may be compliant with the high standards set by U. Such abuses, and new theories of naval warfare led civilized nations, in , to sign an agreement outlawing privateering. The agreement does not prohibit a state from organizing a voluntary navy of private vessels, which are under the dominion and control of the state. The U. Constitution provides that no state can grant letters of marque and reprisal. The federal government is not limited in this right by the Constitution; however, modern custom and treaties prevent it from granting the letters. letter of marque | Definition & Examples | Britannica

At the time, bribery was a common diplomatic practice of many countries. Congress and the American public were outraged. Adams was able to avert a declaration of war by his diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace with France. Negotiations broke down and an undeclared war, known as the Quasi-War, erupted between the two countries. There were few engagements, mainly at sea. France made great use of letters of marque and reprisal, seizing more than 2, U. President Thomas Jefferson preferred diplomacy to war in his approach to international relations. Early in his administration, he sought to reduce the size of the armed forces fearing that a large army and navy would invite dictatorship. Since virtually all economic trade between the US and other nations was via maritime channels, mercantile ships were often targeted on all sides of conflicts, by naval forces and privateers. Jefferson sought other means to protect American shipping. They would capture vessels, seize cargoes and hold crews for ransom or for use as slaves. Before the American Revolution, ships from the American colonies were generally safe from pirates because Great Britain paid the pirates the extortions they demanded. After the colonies won independence from Britain, U. This loss forced early U. Leaders along the Barbary Coast saw this opportunity to extort larger tributes for safe passage of ships. Tripoli declared war on the U. The First Barbary War, from to , involved extensive use of letters of marque and reprisal, on both sides of the conflict. Ships were seized by all sides. After four years of fighting, the US signed a treaty with Tripoli. The U. To ensure safe passage of its vessels, the U. Britain blockaded French coasts to prevent shipping into France. Napoleon I retaliated by issuing the Berlin Decree in May , which imposed an embargo against British trade, prohibiting the import of British goods by European allies or dependent on France. All trade and connections were severed, even the mail. Napoleon planned to defeat Britain by choking its vital ability to trade. Mercantile interests in many countries, including the U. However, U. To capitalize on this, Britain and France captured U. Britain detained more than 1, U. This infuriated the American people and prompted calls for retaliation. Tensions intensified, culminating in when the British frigate Leopard stopped the American ship, Chesapeake, off the Virginia coast and demanded to search it. Jefferson ordered all British ships to leave U. He felt that British and French reliance on American products would convince one or both nations to negotiate with the U. In enforcing the embargo, the U. The impact on Britain from the Continental Blockade and the U. Embargo Act was limited. Enforcement of the embargo was weak and encouraged British merchants to seek new markets. The availability of Latin American markets which were not subject to the embargo to Britain and France provided significant resources so that British merchants could smuggle goods into Europe. Napoleon could not establish an effective system of customs enforcement to prevent the smuggling. During the War of , the U. This law, among other things:. Once this law was enacted, many merchant vessels set out to sea. A number of British ships were captured under the law. By February , the War of had ended with U. Due in part to the demands on its weak finances, the United States had fallen into arrears in its payment of tribute to Algiers. A new ruler of Algiers reinstituted the seizing of foreign vessels to raise money through ransom. Although the ship carried few people, the capture of its passengers and their threatened enslavement generated strong resentment in the U. By then the U. With the cessation of hostilities, U. Having previously fought a war against the Barbary States, the U. President Madison saw the use of force as necessary to end this scourge that was threatening the high seas. His decision to use force was popular with the American public. On May 20, , the first of two squadrons set sail toward the Barbary ships. They were led by Stephen Decatur, known for his heroics in the prior conflict. In two battles the U. The victory was so thorough that the second squadron never saw action. Similar treaties were signed with the leaders of Tunis and Tripoli. A year later, Britain sent a squadron to attack Algiers. After peace was negotiated, thousands of slaves were freed, many of whom had been held for years. Many privateers began to abuse their authority under the Letter of Marque and Reprisal, seizing ships and wealth well beyond their scope of authority under the commissions they had been granted. A prize court's formal condemnation was required to transfer title; otherwise the vessel's previous owners might well reclaim her on her next voyage, and seek damages for the confiscated cargo. Often questions arose as to the legitimacy of the letter of marque in the case of divided sovereignty during civil wars. An English court, for instance, refused to recognize the letters of marque issued by rebellious Ireland under James II , and hanged eight privateer captains as pirates. Seventy-nine years later during the American Civil War , the Union charged officers and crew of the Confederate privateer Savannah with piracy, calling their letter of marque invalid since the Union refused to acknowledge the breakaway Confederacy as a sovereign nation. Privateers were also required by the terms of their letters of marque to obey the laws of war, honour treaty obligations avoid attacking neutrals , and in particular to treat captives as courteously and kindly as they safely could. Nations often agreed by treaty to forgo privateering, as England and France repeatedly did starting with the diplomatic overtures of Edward III in ; privateering nonetheless recurred in every war between them for the next years. Benjamin Franklin had attempted to persuade the French to lead by example and stop issuing letters of marque to their corsairs, but the effort foundered when war loomed with Britain once again. Finally, after the Congress of Paris at the end of the Crimean War , seven European nations signed the Paris Declaration of renouncing privateering, and forty-five more eventually joined them, which in effect abolished privateering worldwide. Despite the attempt to end privateering around the world, nations continued issuing letters of marque. In at the beginning of the War of the Pacific , Bolivia issued letters of marque to any vessels willing to fight for them. At the time Bolivia was under threat from Chile's fleet but had no navy. In December and the first months of , Goodyear commercial L class blimp Resolute operating out of Moffett Field in Sunnyvale , California, flew anti- submarine patrols. As the civilian crew was armed with a rifle, a persistent misconception arose that this made the ship a privateer and that she and sister commercial blimps were operated under letters of marque until the Navy took over operation. Article 1 of the United States Constitution lists issuing letters of marque and reprisal in Section 8 as one of the enumerated powers of Congress , alongside the power to tax and to declare War. However, since the American Civil War, the United States as a matter of policy has consistently followed the terms of the Paris Declaration forbidding the practice. The United States has not legally commissioned any privateers since , although the status of submarine-hunting Goodyear airships in the early days of World War II created significant confusion. Various accounts refer to airships Resolute and Volunteer as operating under a "privateer status", but Congress never authorized a commission, nor did the President sign one. The issue of marque and reprisal was raised before Congress after the September 11 attacks [39] and again on July 21, , by Congressman Ron Paul. The attacks were defined as acts of "air piracy" and the Marque and Reprisal Act of was introduced, which would have granted the president the authority to use letters of marque and reprisal against the specific terrorists, instead of warring against a foreign state. The terrorists were compared to pirates in that they are difficult to fight by traditional military means. However, the bills Paul introduced were not enacted into law. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For the novel, see The Letter of Marque. This section needs expansion with: background on when major European nations and the US Asian, and others abolished privateering. You can help by adding to it. March Discusses the history of letters of marque and reprisal. Upton is considered the foremost 19th-century American scholar on prize law. Clarendon Press, def. The Reclamation of the Braye du Valle The London Gazette. August 15, Guernsey Press. Retrieved August 9, Public Contract Law Journal, Vol. Available at ssrn. Archived May 2, , at the Wayback Machine. William C. Ralph M. William Morrison Robinson, Jr. Carl E. South Carolina Press, Category Portal. Hidden categories: All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from September CS1: Julian—Gregorian uncertainty Webarchive template wayback links Use mdy dates from April Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles containing French-language text Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March Articles to be expanded from March All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes.

It also led to trouble with neutral powers , even though a declaratory act was always passed at the beginning of a war that laid down the right to capture enemy vessels at sea and to have such captures adjudicated under prize law. Extensive use of privateers was made in France and in New England throughout the 18th century. During the American Revolution the American colonists found it difficult to form a new navy because over 1, letters of marque had been granted to privateers. The popularity of privateering continued in the War of between Great Britain and the United States. The ships of the U. Navy numbered in the dozens, while more than vessels were sailing under letters of marque. Meanwhile, the prospects of French privateers had been ruined by the efficiency of frigates and convoy escorts. Privateering was outlawed in by the Declaration of Paris, but the United States declined to accede to the treaty on the grounds that privateering was less expensive than maintaining a standing navy. During the American Civil War Pres. Abraham Lincoln was authorized to issue letters of marque, but both sides preferred to arm their own merchantmen as regular warships. The rise of the professional American navy at the end of the 19th century and the American embrace of the sea power doctrines of Alfred Thayer Mahan finally led the U. It was agreed, after a vain attempt to solve the question in a way satisfactory to all parties, that the subject of conversion on the high seas was outside the scope of the Declaration of Paris. The raising of merchant vessels to the status of warships led to difficulty in distinguishing between volunteer warships and privateers. That subject was made one of those for settlement by the Second Hague Conference in Several conventions on naval warfare in respect to merchant vessels at sea were adopted, but the one setting up an international prize court to hear appeals from belligerent prize courts was never ratified. The rules adopted were as follows:. The ambiguous status of the privateer has ceased to exist, and letters of marque are no longer issued, as belligerent countries now assume full responsibility for all converted ships engaged in military operations. Letter of marque Article Media Additional Info. Print Cite. Facebook Twitter. Transporting goods across the Atlantic took many days and posed many risks to merchant vessels. As a fledgling nation, the U. International disputes required the U. At the time, bribery was a common diplomatic practice of many countries. Congress and the American public were outraged. Adams was able to avert a declaration of war by his diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace with France. Negotiations broke down and an undeclared war, known as the Quasi-War, erupted between the two countries. There were few engagements, mainly at sea. France made great use of letters of marque and reprisal, seizing more than 2, U. President Thomas Jefferson preferred diplomacy to war in his approach to international relations. Early in his administration, he sought to reduce the size of the armed forces fearing that a large army and navy would invite dictatorship. Since virtually all economic trade between the US and other nations was via maritime channels, mercantile ships were often targeted on all sides of conflicts, by naval forces and privateers. Jefferson sought other means to protect American shipping. They would capture vessels, seize cargoes and hold crews for ransom or for use as slaves. Before the American Revolution, ships from the American colonies were generally safe from pirates because Great Britain paid the pirates the extortions they demanded. After the colonies won independence from Britain, U. This loss forced early U. Leaders along the Barbary Coast saw this opportunity to extort larger tributes for safe passage of ships. Tripoli declared war on the U. The First Barbary War, from to , involved extensive use of letters of marque and reprisal, on both sides of the conflict. Ships were seized by all sides. After four years of fighting, the US signed a treaty with Tripoli. The U. To ensure safe passage of its vessels, the U. Britain blockaded French coasts to prevent shipping into France. Napoleon I retaliated by issuing the Berlin Decree in May , which imposed an embargo against British trade, prohibiting the import of British goods by European allies or dependent on France. All trade and connections were severed, even the mail. Napoleon planned to defeat Britain by choking its vital ability to trade. Mercantile interests in many countries, including the U. However, U. To capitalize on this, Britain and France captured U. Britain detained more than 1, U. This infuriated the American people and prompted calls for retaliation. Tensions intensified, culminating in when the British frigate Leopard stopped the American ship, Chesapeake, off the Virginia coast and demanded to search it. Jefferson ordered all British ships to leave U. He felt that British and French reliance on American products would convince one or both nations to negotiate with the U. In enforcing the embargo, the U. The impact on Britain from the Continental Blockade and the U. Embargo Act was limited. Enforcement of the embargo was weak and encouraged British merchants to seek new markets. Their main purpose was to annoy the enemy; however, an enemy's merchant vessels were often seized in retaliation for acts of hostility. The system of privateering was subject to extensive abuses. In the absence of proper letters, a privateer was tantamount to a pirate. Although privateers allegedly existed in order to support the defense of their sovereigns, they frequently acquired much personal wealth through their activities. In addition, since privateers were not subject to the same discipline as a regular navy, they yielded to the temptation to seize ships beyond the scope of their authority.

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