Quasi-Wars
American history teaches about the Quasi-War. This was also known as, “The Undeclared War with France.” Sometimes it is called the “Pirate Wars” and other times the “Half War.” Regardless, it was an undeclared Naval war between the United States and France. The unpleasantries lasted roughly between 1798 and 1880.
The war took place during the presidency of John Adams, the second president of the United States. It was George Washington who had argued vociferously for neutrality on the part of the United States. Washington was actually called back to service as Commander-in-Chief. Adams was more willing than Washington to engage in a fight to protect America’s sovereignty.
The total story is an interesting one. A French emissary by the name of Edmond Charles Genet, sometimes referred to “Citizen Genet,” spent his time in the United States doing everything that he could to undermine the neutrality between the United States, Britain, and France. Genet was a thorough going Francophile.
Ultimately, George Washington got fed up with Genet. The United States refused to support France and entered into a very controversial treaty with England, the Jay Treaty.
The bottom line is that the United States did not hesitate to fight an undeclared war to protect its interests.
President Washington was fearful of building a Navy, because he thought it would involve the United States in conflict. Adams, and ultimately Jefferson, thought differently. They supported the creation of a Navy, even as Congress equivocated.
The Quasi-War was fought due to the French harassing the United States shipping, capturing American vessels, and hindering trade.
The Barbary Wars lasted on and off for a longer period of time. The major conflict lasted from 1801 to 1815. The United States fought against the Muslim Ottoman Empire. It was common practice for the Muslim Navies on the northern coast of Africa to attack European shipping, take hostages, and to demand payoffs. There were a number of these conflicts over time which initially were ignored by the United States. However, the President, Thomas Jefferson, ultimately got sick of dealing with the North African pirates, as did a number of other presidents.
The Muslim Empire had commanding provinces in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Morocco and other nations were involved as well.
While modern day pirates bring drugs to the United States, the Ottoman Emirates captured merchant ships, enslaved their crews, and demanded ransom.
The United States was less successful diplomatically with Algeria than with Morocco. Nevertheless, it was necessary for the United States to fight those who sought to undermine western civilization as a whole.
In 1786, Jefferson and John Adams attempted to negotiate with Tripoli’s Ambassador, Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. The Ambassador told the Americans:
It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who is the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor had a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that the cried out for quarter at once.
The United States built frigates, manned them, and fought back.
War had been declared against the United States, both officially and unofficially, and the new nation was not about to sit back and suffer the consequences of the terror inflicted upon our nation’s assets.
One of the best known incidents of the wars was the capture of the USS Philadelphia. The frigate ran aground on a reef while patrolling Tripoli Harbor. Captain William Bainbridge and his officers along with his crew were taken ashore and held as hostages. Captain Stephen Decatur became a hero when, in 1804, he led a detachment which overpowered the Arab sailors on board. Decatur and his marines set fire to Philadelphia and destroyed her.
This led to a war in North Africa where the United States raised its flag in victory on foreign soil for the first time in history. The battle was memorialized in the lines of the Marines’ Hymn, “The Shores of Tripoli.”
The war did not end there. The history is more interesting than fiction.
Fast forward to the American War against narcotic smugglers in the Caribbean and to a more minor extent, in the Pacific Ocean. America, without declaration of war, has been passionate about protecting its shores and its vessels from attack and from infiltration by those who would do harm to this nation.
The War Powers Act places many more restrictions on US presidents than the founders of this country had to face. Nevertheless, it has been routine for the United States to take action against all kinds of infiltrators. John Kennedy appeared willing to confront the Russians with a nuclear war in order to get their missiles out of Cuba.
Those who believe that President Trump should be keeping in touch with Congress as to why drug smuggling boats are being attacked and the strategy utilized, are correct. Communication is important in both declared and undeclared wars. However, our presidents since at least the 1980s have been railing about the amount of drugs that come into the United States via waterways surrounding our great nation. Everyone who has served in the Coast Guard or any offshore Naval unit is aware of the cigarette boats plying our waters and killing Americans with drugs by the thousands every month.
The President is right to wage an aggressive campaign against drugs and narcotic smugglers, but he needs to kiss the proverbial ring of Congressional leaders in order to satisfy the appetite of the modern press. The founders of this country, who faced a very robust press also, often fought their foreign enemies in private, but that will not do with the today’s online influencers.
