The First Barbary War: The United States Faces "The Scourge of the Mediterranean" From 1778 to 1783, the Treaty of Alliance obligated France to protect all American maritime enterprises. The dissolution of this treaty after the United States gained independence left American merchant ships vulnerable to Barbary pirates. In the 1700s and 1800s, Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis, and the Sultanate of Morocco had been semi-independent states under the Ottoman Empire. For centuries, pirate crews from these countries, supported by the government, captured merchant ships and ransomed their crews, but Thomas Jefferson was unwilling to respect the ransoms and tributes of the Barbary States. As a result of his determination not to be intimidated by these vile criminals, the First Barbary War began. Thomas Jefferson, the United States Secretary to France at the time, sent ambassadors to Morocco and Algiers, the two major states on the Barbary Coast, to attempt to peacefully negotiate an end to piracy. On June 23, 1786, a successful treaty was made with Morocco, but Algiers proved to be a much bigger problem. Algerian pirates held the crews of two American ships, the Maria and the Dauphin. They asked for much more than the $40,000 allotted to the envoys on the Barbary coast for the purposes of negotiations, so no agreement was reached for the release. In the ten years before a settlement, the Algerians continued to seize the Attia's American ships. The 115 American prisoners were released after the Africans agreed to receive a $1 million ransom. This made an unpleasant dent in the US budget, and profound changes were needed to put a permanent end to the problem. The Barba... middle of paper... was supposed to be used to pressure Karamanli to release the hostages without ransom. Furthermore, the United States made another mistake by abandoning Hamet Karamanli after ensuring his return to the Tripoli government after the war. No one paid much attention to Eaton's opinions, as the War of 1812 was much more important. Even after such a strong reaction to their dishonorable piracy, the Barbary States resumed their racketeering just two years after the war, and the Second Barbary War began in 1815, after worries about the War of 1812 had ended. A war that the United States fought as an independent country, the First Barbary War was a good lesson in the strengths and weaknesses of the US military system. The dire need of the Navy and Marines led to their permanent incorporation into the U.S. military.