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U.S.-Libyan Relations - 1786-1806 - Barbary Pirates

The United States and Libya have a long relationship, dating to the first days of the American Republic. In fact, evidence of this can be heard each time the U.S. Marine Corps hymn is sung, in the line "to the shores of Tripoli." Although Libya did not attain independence until 1951, Libya's predecessor, the Barbary State of Tripoli, ranked among the primary concerns of the new United States during its first decades. Tripoli, led by the Bey, Youssef Qaramanli, owed loose allegiance to the Ottoman Empire and, like the other Barbary States, supplemented its treasury by raiding European shipping and exacting tribute payments to spare nations from such raids. As a consequence of American independence, U.S. shipping in the Mediterranean Sea no longer enjoyed the protection of the British Navy and the tribute payments of the Royal Exchequer. U.S. merchant vessels were now at risk of being raided by the Barbary States.

The first meeting between U.S. and Tripolitan representatives occurred in London, on February 17, 1786. John Adams, the U.S. Minister to Great Britain, and Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. Minister to France, met with Abdrahaman, a Tripolitan special envoy to Great Britain. Abdrahaman said that in the absence of a peace treaty, Tripoli considered itself to be at war with the United States, but that a treaty could be negotiated at a cost of at least 30,000 guineas (roughly $3.5 million in 2007 U.S. dollars). Aware that the other Barbary States would demand similar or larger amounts, Adams and Jefferson replied that the U.S. Congress would need to approve the expenditure, and the talks ended.

The United States signed its first treaty with Tripoli in 1796, as the result of a Tripolitan raid and the capture of a U.S. vessel. Earlier that year, the United States negotiated a treaty with the Barbary State of Algiers, and sent $200,000 in gold to Algiers aboard the Sophia as payment, when a Tripolitan corsair captured the ship. The Sophia was quickly released after Captain Richard O'Brien produced a passport issued by the Dey of Algiers. The incident led the United States to send Joel Barlow as U.S. Agent Plenipotentiary to Tripoli to negotiate a treaty with the Bey of Tripoli. Barlow and Qaramanli negotiated and signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship on November 4, 1796. The treaty granted free passage to vessels of both states and mandated that passports would be provided to ensure safe passage. Trade between the two states would be on a most-favored-nation basis, and money and presents given to the Bey would suffice in lieu of tribute.

The 1796 treaty contained an article that referred U.S.-Tripolitan disputes to the Dey of Algiers for mediation, and differing interpretations of that article led to the First Barbary War (1801-1805). The Bey of Tripoli considered the article to mean arbitration by a mutual friend, but U.S. officials deemed Tripoli a dependency of Algiers. The United States did not send money and presents to Qaramanli, but sent money and a ship to the Dey of Algiers. When the first U.S. Consul to Tripoli, James Leander Cathcart, arrived in April 1799, he faced an angry Bey who demanded that the United States treat Tripoli on the same basis as Algiers. When Washington did not reply, on February 9, 1801, Qaramanli threatened to declare war if he did not obtain a new treaty and tribute. On May 14, he sent a squad of soldiers to cut down the flagpole of the U.S. Consulate and declared war on the United States. Cathcart asked the Danish Consul General to oversee U.S. interests and departed for Italy.

President Thomas Jefferson had long favored a tough policy toward the Barbary States. He had already ordered the first of several naval squadrons to the Mediterranean when he learned of the war with Tripoli. Jefferson requested and obtained Congressional authority for naval operations against Tripoli on February 6, 1802. After blockades, bombardments, and several battles, Jefferson appointed William Eaton as "U.S. Navy Agent for the Barbary Regencies," and tasked him with raising a force to attack Tripoli by land. With U.S. Navy support, a multi-national force led by Eaton captured the town of Derna. News of the battle led Qaramanli to make peace, and on June 4, 1805, the United States and Tripoli signed a Treaty of Peace and Amity. Consular relations resumed, and Consul George Davis was appointed on March 17, 1806.

The First Barbary War was a formative experience for the fledgling U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Hymn contains the line "to the shores of Tripoli." Marine Corps officers still carry Mameluke-style dress swords similar to one that the Bey's brother Hamet Qaramanli presented to Lieutenant Presley N. O'Bannon, who commanded the eight Marines who took part in Eaton's expedition to Derna.