Why the Marine
Hymn contains the verse “to the shores of Tripoli”
Muslim
pirates of the past: Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over
two hundred years ago, the United States had declared war on Islam, and Thomas
Jefferson led the charge!
At the height
of the eighteenth century, Muslim pirates were the terror of the Mediterranean
and a large area of the North Atlantic. They attacked every ship in
sight, and held the crews for exorbitant ransoms. Those taken hostage
were subjected to barbaric treatment and wrote heart breaking letters home,
begging their government and family members to pay whatever their Mohammedan
captors demanded.
These extortionists of the high seas represented the Islamic nations of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers – collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast – and presented a dangerous and unprovoked threat to the new American Republic.
These extortionists of the high seas represented the Islamic nations of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers – collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast – and presented a dangerous and unprovoked threat to the new American Republic.
Before the
Revolutionary War, U.S. merchant ships had been under the protection of Great
Britain. When the U.S. declared its independence and entered into war,
the ships of the United States were protected by France. However, once
the war was won, America had to protect its own fleets. Thus, the birth
of the U.S. Navy.
Beginning in 1784, seventeen years before he would become president, Thomas Jefferson became America’s Minister to France. That same year, the U.S. Congress sought to appease its Muslim adversaries by
following in the footsteps of European nations who paid bribes to the Barbary States, rather than engaging them in war.
In July of 1785, Algerian pirates captured American ships, and the Dye of Algiers demanded an unheard-of ransom of $60,000. It was a plain and simple case of extortion, and Thomas Jefferson was vehemently opposed to any further payments. Instead, he proposed to Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who together could force the Islamic states into peace. A disinterested Congress decided to
pay the ransom.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts The two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be
found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."
Beginning in 1784, seventeen years before he would become president, Thomas Jefferson became America’s Minister to France. That same year, the U.S. Congress sought to appease its Muslim adversaries by
following in the footsteps of European nations who paid bribes to the Barbary States, rather than engaging them in war.
In July of 1785, Algerian pirates captured American ships, and the Dye of Algiers demanded an unheard-of ransom of $60,000. It was a plain and simple case of extortion, and Thomas Jefferson was vehemently opposed to any further payments. Instead, he proposed to Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who together could force the Islamic states into peace. A disinterested Congress decided to
pay the ransom.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli’s ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts The two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be
found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."
Despite of
this 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.
Jefferson was
disgusted. 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 is was finally time to meet force with force.
thuggery for long enough, decided that is 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”.
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”.
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, and 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.
Islam would return and pose an even greater threat to the United States.
This should
bother every American. That 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….
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 obfuscate 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.
Any doubts,
just Google Thomas Jefferson vs the Muslim World
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