The Treaty of Peace and Friendship is a treaty signed between the United States and the Kingdom of Algiers on September 5, 1795.
Background edit
Following the independence of the United States in 1776, American merchant ships no longer enjoyed the protection of Royal Navy ships, which posed a problem in the Mediterranean. From 1785 onwards, American ships found themselves attacked by privateers from what the West then called Barbary, corresponding to the Ottoman provinces of the Maghreb (present-day Algeria, Tunisia and Libya).
The United States Senate decided to propose a "treaty of peace and friendship with the Barbary States", an addendum to which was initialed on September 5, 1795 in Algiers and again on January 3, 1797. A similar treaty was signed with the bey of Tunis.
The treaty was unanimously ratified by the U.S. Senate in early June, then signed by John Adams, the second U.S. president, and published in what was then the official U.S. newspaper, the Philadelphia Gazette on June 17, 1797.
Tribute edit
The U.S. federal government was to take from its budget annually the equivalent of 12,000 Algerian sequins[1] (or 21,600 US dollars, 64,800 gold francs) to protect its trade from piracy. This tribute was served without interruption until 1810, then the payment was suspended in 1811[2], it must also provide a 32-gun frigate and three other ships[3] :
- frigate Crescent (renamed in Algiers El Merikana for L'Américaine) of 32 guns, designer Josiah Fox, launched 29/06/1797 at Portsmouth, 122 feet × 32 feet × 10 feet 2 inches;
- 22-gun brig Hassan Bashaw/Hassan Pasha, designer Samuel Humphreys, launched in 1798 in Philadelphia, 275 long tons, 97 feet or 93 feet 2 inches × 27 feet × 11 feet 6 inches[4];
- 20-gun schooner Skjoldebrand, designer Benjamin Hutton, built in Philadelphia, 77 feet 6 inches × 23 feet × 10 feet 6 inches;
- 18-gun schooner Lelah Eisha, designer Samuel Bowers.
The treaty was purchased by the United States at an estimated cost of $992,463.25 by the U.S. Treasury Department[5].
Afterwards edit
In 1801, Yusuf Karamanli, the pasha of Tripoli, demanded that the United States increase the tribute it was paying. This demand was rejected and the dey with his allies on the Barbary Coast declared war on the United States on 14.
The American president Thomas Jefferson then sent ships of the United States Navy which bombarded among others the cities of Tripoli and Algiers and renegotiated the treaty in 1805.
In April 2006, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered a copy of the original treaty to Algerian Foreign Minister Mohammed Bedjaoui
Notes and references edit
- ^ "The Barbary Treaties 1786-1816 Treaty of Peace and Amity, Signed at Algiers September 5, 1795". Yale Law School. 2008. Retrieved 31 octobre 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help); line feed character in|title=at position 31 (help) - ^ Devoulx, Albert (1859). Le Raïs Hamidou (PDF) (in French). Typographie Adolphe Jourdan, Alger. p. XIII. — La mort du Raïs Hamidou.
- ^ Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The Sailing Navy 1775-1854 (PDF). p. 30. ISBN 0-415-97872-6.
{{cite book}}: More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help); Text "Taylor & Francis Group" ignored (help) - ^ Farr, Gail E.; Bostwick, Brett F. (1991). John Lenthall Naval Architect (PDF). Philadelphia Maritime Museum. p. 14. ISBN 0-913346-19-5.
{{cite book}}: More than one of|pages=and|page=specified (help) - ^ "The Barbary Treaties 1786-1816 Treaty with Algeria September 5, 1795 : Hunter Miller's Notes". Yale Law School. 2008. Retrieved 31 octobre 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help)