(The Barbary pirates, Barbary corsairs, or Ottoman corsairs were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from the Barbary states in N Africa. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland. In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in raids on European coastal towns and villages. Up to 1.5 Million European people were taken as slaves back to Africa.)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/03/02/war-powers-the-true-history-of-thomas-jefferson-and-the-barbary-pirates/

War Powers: The True History of Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates

By: Michael Boldin

People on both the left and the right claim the president possesses significant, unilateral power over military action, and they support this myth by perpetuating a big lie – that Thomas Jefferson did the same in response to the Barbary Pirates. But like so many other myths about expansive federal power, historical truth doesn’t back up this commonly held narrative. In fact, Jefferson deferred to Congress throughout the Barbary conflict.

THE POWER TO DECLARE WAR

The Constitution vests the power to “declare war” in Congress. The founders understood this to mean changing the state of things from peace to war. This could occur through words or actions.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Congress alone is constitutionally invested with the power of changing our condition from peace to war.”

Some argue that if another country declares war – whether in word or by deed – this action by the other country changes the state of things from peace to war, empowering the president to act with offensive measures without any congressional input. But Jefferson disagreed, leaving the decision of how to respond to such outside declarations of war to the representatives of the people and the states. We can see this by the way he responded to the Barbary pirates

BACKGROUND

By the time Jefferson took office, aggression against U.S. shipping off the coast of Africa had been going on for years, with pirates of the Barbary States preying on American ships. European countries had experienced much of the same, and negotiated peace with the states by paying tribute – sums of money that were effectively ransoms to protect their shipping.

Before his presidency, Jefferson had been involved in negotiating with the aggressors, and he did not support paying tribute. Jefferson expressed his sentiments in a letter to James Monroe on Nov. 11, 1784.

“We have taken some pains to find out the sums which the nations of Europe give to the Barbary states to purchase their peace. They will not tell this; yet from some glimmerings it appears to be very considerable; and I do expect that they would tax us at one, two, or perhaps three hundred thousand dollars a year. Surely our people will not give this. Would it not be better to offer them an equal treaty? If they refuse, why not go to war with them?” [emphasis added]

A month later, having learned that a small American brig had been seized by a Moroccan corsair in the Atlantic, Jefferson again emphasized the hard line in a letter to Horatio Gates:

“Tribute or war is the usual alternative of these pirates. If we yield the former, it will require sums which our people will feel. Why not begin a navy then and decide on war?”

Jefferson’s view notwithstanding, in the years to follow, President John Adams negotiated treaties with several Barbary states including Algiers and Tripoli, with the latter getting a payment of $18,000/year.

But, as Jefferson warned in 1784, such a deal would never be enough, and Pasha Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli felt like he got the short end of the stick. Within a year of the deal with the Adams administration – and a full five months before Jefferson took office – the Pasha demanded significantly more money and began taking an increasingly aggressive stance against the U.S.

DEMANDS AND THREATS

The U.S. consul in Tripoli James Cathcart wrote to the Secretary of State on Oct. 7, 1800, that the Pasha said “If you don’t give me a present I will forge a pretext to capture your defenseless merchantmen.”

Just a week later, Tripoli proved their intentions when they captured another American ship. But, possibly it was just a warning, as the crew was released immediately.

By Feb. 21, 1801, Cathcart was warning that war was imminent. In a Circular to the Consuls and Agents of the United States, he wrote “I am convinced that the Bashaw of Tripoli will commence Hostilitys against the U. States of America in less than Sixty Days.”

In the meantime, just before Jefferson’s inauguration in 1801, Congress passed “An Act Providing for a Naval Peace Establishment,” legislation providing for six frigates that “shall be officered and manned as the President of the United States may direct.”

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