In researching my historical romantic pirate novel "In a Pirate's Debt" I collected a lot of information about pirates. The below two blogs seemed like good information to share in our day of battle against Islamic extremists.
Quick review of Part 1
Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago,the United States declared war on Islam and Mediterranean pirates, and Thomas Jefferson led the charge!
America was told by Muslim pirates to pay ransom or continue to lose ships in the Mediterranean.
Despite their stunning admission of premeditated violence on non-Muslim nations, as well as the objections of many notable American leaders, including George Washington, who warned that caving in was both wrong and would only further embolden the enemy, for the following fifteen years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. The payments in ransom and tribute amounted to over twenty percent of the United States government annual revenues in 1800.
(See Part 1 below for a full review)
Jefferson was disgusted that America was paying ransom to Muslim pirates! Shortly after
his being sworn in as the third President of the United States in 1801, the
Pasha of Tripoli sent him a note demanding the immediate payment of $225,000
plus $25,000 a year for every year forthcoming. That changed everything.
Jefferson let the Pasha know, in no uncertain terms, what he could
do with his demand. The Pasha responded by cutting down the flagpole at
the American consulate and declared war on the United States.
Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers immediately followed suit. Jefferson,
until now, had been against America raising a naval force for anything beyond
coastal defense, but having watched his nation be cowed by Islamic thuggery for
long enough, decided that it was finally time to meet force with force.
He dispatched a squadron of frigates to the Mediterranean and
taught the Muslim nations of the Barbary Coast a lesson he hoped they would
never forget. Congress authorized Jefferson to empower U.S. ships to seize all vessels
and
goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to “cause to be done all other
acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war would justify”.
Jefferson, the Marine
When Algiers and Tunis, who were both accustomed to American cowardice and acquiescence, saw the newly independent United States had both the will and the might to strike back, they quickly abandoned their allegiance to
Tripoli.
The war with Tripoli lasted
for four more years, and raged up again in 1815. The bravery of the U.S.
Marine Corps in these wars led to the line “to the shores of Tripoli” in the
Marine Hymn, They would forever be known as “leathernecks” for the leather collars of their
uniforms, designed to prevent their heads from being cut off by the Muslim
scimitars when boarding enemy ships.
Islam, and what its Barbary followers justified doing in the name
of their prophet and their god, disturbed Jefferson quite deeply. America
had a tradition of religious tolerance, the fact that Jefferson, himself, had
co-authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, but fundamentalist Islam was like no other
religion the world had ever seen.
A religion based on supremacism,
whose holy book not only condoned but mandated violence against
unbelievers
was unacceptable to him. His greatest fear was that someday
this brand of Islam would return and pose an even greater threat to the United States.
This should bother every American. -- That the Muslims have
brought about women-only classes and swimming times at taxpayer-funded
universities and public pools; that Christians, Jews, and Hindus have been
banned from serving on juries where Muslim defendants are being judged, Piggy banks and Porky Pig tissue
dispensers have been banned from workplaces because they offend Islamist
sensibilities. Ice cream has been discontinued at certain
Burger King locations because the picture on the wrapper looks similar to
the Arabic script for Allah, public schools are pulling pork from their menus, on and on in the newspapers.
It’s death by a thousand cuts, or inch-by-inch as some refer to
it, and most Americans have no idea that this battle is being waged
every day across America. By not fighting back, by allowing groups to confuse what is really happening, and not insisting that the Islamists
adapt to our own culture, the United States is cutting its own throat with
a politically correct knife, and helping to further the Islamists
agenda.
Sadly, it appears that today’s America would rather be politically correct than victorious. But I think we are waking up fast!
Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by. Feel free to share this information and do leave a comment.
Blessings,
Elva Cobb Martin
