THE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WITH ALGERIA 1785-1797

Abstract

The diplomatic relations between the United States of America and Algiers go back to the late eighteenth century. While the United States was then emerging as a fragile independent country, the Regency of Algiers had been the leading power of the Barbary States years earlier. The Muslim component of the latter was inextricably linked to the history of the United States before, during and after its Revolution. This research studies the diplomatic relations between the two countries in the period lasting from 1785, when two American ships were captured by Algerian privateers, to the return of the American captives to Philadelphia in 1797. In an effort to counterbalance the prejudiced literature following the 9/11 2001 events stereotyping Algiers as a pirate state, this research attempts to uncover the often overlooked context and consequences of the episode between 1785 and 1797. The context of war that existed between the two countries led to far reaching consequences. This thesis reached a set of conclusions. First, through its two offensives, the Regency of Algiers was at war with the United States until the signature of the treaty of Amity and Peace of 1795. This war occurred within the scope of the laws that prevailed and governed the different nations at that time. Second, the Regency of Algiers was not a pirate state. It was a privateering sovereign state recognized by the international community with which it had signed several treaties. Third, the 1795 American-Algerian vi Treaty is unprecedented in so many aspects. It is a formal recognition by the Regency of Algiers of the independence of the United States. It is the first treaty America signed in a foreign language with Algiers. It is also the sole treaty in which the United States pledged to pay an annual tax to a foreign country in exchange for prisoners. This research work also underlines the literary and political legacy of this war. While the former is expressed through the proliferation of early American captivity narratives, the latter embodies the inspiration for a new American Constitution, the birth of the U.S. Navy, and the shaping of the early American foreign policy.