Algerine War

Algerine War , early 19th-century conflict between Algiers and the United States. The Tripolitan War (1801-5) had brought a temporary halt to the pirate activities of the Barbary States. However, during the subsequent Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 the Barbary pirates renewed their predatory raids on American Mediterranean commerce, and Algiers actually declared war on the United States. In 1815, Stephen Decatur was sent to Algiers at the head of a squadron of 10 ships. After two minor engagements he sailed into the harbor of Algiers and forced (June 30) the dey of Algiers to sign a treaty renouncing U.S. tribute and agreeing to release all U.S. prisoners without ransom. Decatur then exacted similar guarantees from Tunisia (July 26) and Tripoli (Aug. 5), and the so-called Algerine War was ended.

Barbary Wars (1801-5, 1815), armed naval conflicts with the Barbary States of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. After losing the benefits of British naval protection, the United States agreed to pay tribute to the Barbary States for passage into and through the Mediterranean. Seizures of American sailors and vessels in attempts to collect ransom led to both conflicts. An American siege of Tripoli from 1803 to 1805 produced a reinstatement of the status quo ante, which did not solve the problem from the American perspective. Action during this period was marked by the first use of marines in 1804. In 1815, ten ships under Commodore Stephen Decatur seized the Algerian flagship, freed American hostages, and exacted a new treaty establishing America's right of safe passage in the Mediterranean.The first conflict is also known as the Tripolitan War; the second, the Algerine War.

Tripolitan War, or Barbary Wars, naval expeditions against the Barbary states (Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis), which for more than two centuries had preyed on the commerce of Christian nations and captured Christians as slaves. Forbearance was customarily obtained by paying annual tribute, but Jefferson opposed this practice, sending successful expeditions against the pirates (1801–5), led by Preble and Decatur. While the U.S. was engaged in the War of 1812, the Barbary states renewed their ship raiding, and Algiers declared war (1815). Decatur and others were responsible for the conclusion of the war by an American victory. The campaigns furnished the theme of Susanna Rowson's Slaves in Algiers, Payne's Fall of Algiers, Tyler's The Algerine Captive, and other contemporary literature. Later fictional treatments include Kenneth Roberts's Lydia Bailey and H.L. Davis's Harp of a Thousand Strings.