Tripoli 101: Millions for Defense

UNITED STATES

06.15.2018

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Julian R Moorefield III 

USS Tripoli (LHA 7)

Tripoli 101: Millions for Defense
By: Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Julian Moorefield

“Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute,” is a quote which became the embodiment of America’s future foreign policies and its attitude when dealing with pirates from the Barbary States. This phrase derives from a dinner in 1798 attended by Robert Goodloe Harper, honoring John Marshall for his diplomatic roll during the XYZ Affair. Praising Marshall for his refusal of bribe requests from French officials, Harper gave the inspiring toast that would later become one of the most memorable quotes in American history, and remain closely associated with Tripoli.
Since 1784, Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunis, along with the Sultanate of Morocco, had received tribute from the U.S. due to a lapse in protection of merchant ships from Barbary pirates. That protection had previously been provided by the French during the Treaty of Alliance, but after gaining independence from Britain all previous agreements had expired. In all, millions of dollars had been spent by the U.S. to stem these attacks and secure the release Sailors who had already been captured.
Upon Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration in 1801 the ruler of Tripoli, known as Pasha, Yusuf Karamanli, demanded tribute from the new administration. President Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy against tribute, along with a growing U.S. naval force, rejected these demands. When the Pasha learned of Jefferson’s refusal, Tripoli, independent of its allies Algiers, Tunis and Morocco, declared war on the U.S. by cutting down the flagstaff in front of the U.S. Consulate in Tripoli.
Expecting the Pasha of Tripoli to be displeased by the news, Jefferson pre-emptively sent a small squadron of three frigates and one schooner with gifts and letters to try and maintain peace with the Barbary States. Jefferson included in his instruction that in the event that war was declared by the Pasha, Commodore Richard Dale had been given orders to protect American ships and citizens from any retribution, but strictly in the line of defense. Jefferson stressed to Dale that he was constitutionally unauthorized, without congressional approval, to go further than that.
Later in 1802, Congress authorized Jefferson to deal with the Tripolitan cruisers that had been attacking American ships and effecting commerce. Over the next three years, the U.S. had made some overall progress in protecting their ships, but nothing to bring closure to the war. This changed in 1805 when William Eaton, and Marine Corps 1st Lt. Presley O’Bannon, led a ground force attack known as the Battle of Derna, becoming a definitive turning point.
Eaton and O’Bannon’s success in capturing of the Tripolitan city Derna provided the leverage need by the U.S. to negotiate the release of American hostages and end the war. With the threat of losing power to his older brother, the Pasha of Tripoli signed a treaty with the U.S. bringing the war to a close.
This treaty assured no further hostilities to American assets. The treaty provided security for future American commerce and proved to the world we would spend, “Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute.”

• Date Taken: 06.15.2018
• Date Posted: 12.21.2018 11:35
• Story ID: 304834
• Location: US