On December 24, 1814 just two months after Madison delivered his annual address to Congress, the United States signed the Treaty of Ghent ending the war with Great Britain. But in politics, it is always the most recent events that get top billing. And so it was in Madison's 1815 annual address when he led with the news of Decatur's treaty with Algeria, not the Treaty of Ghent. The Treaty of Ghent was already one year old, while the Decatur's treaty was in fact signed and ratified by Congress on the same day the written message was delivered (December 5). Not sure which came first, the reading of the annual address or the ratification of the Treaty. Nevertheless it was the news of the day.
In 1796 our first president, George Washington signed a peace treaty with the Dey of Algiers and agreed to pay annual tribute. Six years later during Thomas Jefferson's first year as president, he refused to pay any tribute and this began what is known as the first Barbary war. A war that Congress had never declared. It all ended in 1804 when a group of U.S. marines under William Eaton stormed the city of Derne (Tripoli) and raised the American flag over the battery. In 1805, Thomas Jefferson declared that "the States on the coast of Barbary seem generally disposed at present to respect our peace and friendship; with Tunis alone some uncertainty remains."
Then just two years later, the Dey of Algiers detained three American vessels full of cargo. The ships were headed for the Spanish port of Leghorn in the Barbary states, but now the Dey of Algiers demanded payment of tribute for these. The American consulate was obliged to make payment, but demands continued to increase through 1808 when Jefferson wrote to Congress that there had been no positive changes to "inspire confidence" and to continue friendly relations with "the powers on the coast of Barbary". Things continued to deteriorate, in 1812 when the Consul General Tobias Lear and all American citizens were banished from Algeria by the Dey of Algiers. The U.S. however was embroiled in the War of 1812 and could take little action. Throughout the war, the Barbary pirate states like Algeria took advantage of the war and returned to their practice of attacking both American and European merchant vessels in the Mediterranean sea and holding them for ransom.
But, 1815 was a new year. With peace negotiated and the war of 1812 over, the United States could now focus some attention on the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis and Algeria. On March 3, 1815 the U.S. Congress authorized a deployment of naval power against the state of Algerians. Under Commodore William Bainbridge and Commodore Stephen Decatur, two squadrons were assembled and made ready for war. The squadrons consisted of 3 large frigates, the USS Guerrrier with 44 guns, the Constellation with 36 guns, and the Macedonia with 38 guns, along with sloops of war, brigs and schooners. This overwhelming force arrived in Algiers in June after capturing two ships including the Algerian flagship Meshuda. The Dey of Algeria quickly capitulated and signed Decatur's treaty returning all American captives, paying $10,000 for seized shipping and agreeing to requiring no further tributes from the United States. The treaty gave the United States full shipping rights in the Mediterranean Sea.
President James Madison opened his 1815 annual address with the news that war had been terminated. Not the war of 1812, but the Barbary wars. In his opening paragraph, he described the high character of the American Commander Stephen Decatur and the "accustomed gallantry of all the officers"
"I have the satisfaction on our present meeting of being able to communicate the successful termination of the war which had been commenced against the United States by the Regency of Algiers. The squadron in advance on that service, under Commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in capturing two of his ships, one of them the principal ship, commanded by the Algerine admiral. The high character of the American commander was brilliantly sustained on the occasion which brought his own ship into close action with that of his adversary, as was the accustomed gallantry of all the officers and men actually engaged. Having prepared the way by this demonstration of American skill and prowess, he hastened to the port of Algiers, where peace was promptly yielded to his victorious force."In his second paragraph, before mentioning the treaty of peace with Great Britain, Madison expressed his hope that peace with the Barbary States would finally be obtained. Madison shared that the terms in Decatur's treaty with Algiers, relinquished "all pretensions to tribute from them" and that "subsequent transactions with the Regencies of Tunis and of Tripoli" that followed under the command of Commodore Bainbridge gave a "reasonable prospect of future security".
"In the terms stipulated the rights and honor of the United States were particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment on the part of the Dey of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions which have thus been made, strengthened as they will have been by subsequent transactions with the Regencies of Tunis and of Tripoli by the appearance of the larger force which followed under Commodore Bainbridge, the chief in command of the expedition, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements left by him in that quarter, afford a reasonable prospect of future security for the valuable portion of our commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary cruisers."Unfortunately, celebration was a bit too early. The Dey of Algeria repudiated the US treaty and refused to accept the terms of peace established by the Congress of Vienna established by the European states after the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Dey Omar Agha of Algeria threatened the lives of all Christian inhabitants of Algiers and the U.S. Commissioner had to flee aboard British vessels. Peace would have to wait for another day.
In 1937, Stephen Decatur was recognized for his heroic efforts during the War of 1812 and the Barbary Wars with his portrait on a 2 cent stamp.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29457
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Barbary_War
http://www.uswars.net/barbary-war/
http://history1800s.about.com/od/americanwars/tp/barbarywars.htm
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Decatur_and_the_Dey_of_Algiers_%281881%29.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment