Adams endorsed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which attempted to silence critics of the Quasi-War. One provision outlawed speeches or writings intended to defame governmental authorities. Preparing to oppose the incumbent in the next presidential election, Jefferson decried the “reign of witches” that threatened civil liberties. His partisans noted that Hamilton excluded Republicans from the officer corps of the swollen military.
Military expansion exacerbated fears of standing armies and navies across the country. To raise $2 million in funding for national defense, the federal government imposed a tax on houses, land, and slaves and apportioned the cost to the states. When assessors reached eastern Pennsylvania, John Fries, an itinerant auctioneer, organized mobs of German-speaking farmers to drive them away. During 1799, Adams ordered 1,000 regulars and militiamen to quell the unrest. After troops captured Fries and his associates, the Adams administration pardoned them the next year. Federalists boasted about suppressing an insurrection, whereas Republicans lamented the rise of military despotism in America.
In Virginia, a slave named Gabriel plotted an insurrection the next year. His lieutenants hammered swords out of scythes while shouting “death or liberty.” In all likelihood, they hoped to take advantage of a rumored French invasion of the tidewater. James Monroe, the Republican governor in 1800, called out the state militia, which squelched their plot. Gabriel and 26 other slaves were executed by hanging.
Meanwhile, American and French ships clashed upon the high seas. In the West Indies, the two most noteworthy battles involved the Constellation. Commanded by Truxtun, the frigate's superior speed allowed him to maneuver and to rake L'Insurgente with fire. Truxtun's triumph in early 1799 elated the nation. Nearly a year later, the Constellation encountered the 52-gun frigate La Vengeance. During a five-hour battle at night, the French warship suffered damage but escaped in the darkness. Assisted by the maritime supremacy of the Royal Navy, American vessels hunted down French privateers and pirates from the Windward Passage to the north coast of South America. The Navy lost only one warship to enemy actions while safeguarding the carrying trade.
Because Adams pressed the Quasi-War, peace talks opened with France. The two nations agreed to end hostilities by signing the Convention of Mortefontaine in 1800. In return for abandoning claims of indemnity from maritime losses, the U.S. won recognition of neutrality from the French. The agreement formally terminated the Franco-American alliance and avoided the broadening of the naval conflict into a full-scale war. The wartime hysteria that had engulfed America quickly subsided.
The Shores of Tripoli
The U.S. capital relocated to the new federal city of Washington D.C., where a small array of buildings surrounded Capitol Hill and the executive mansion. After taking office in 1801, President Jefferson vowed to reduce the power of the federal government. He appointed Madison as the Secretary of State while promising “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations.” Working with the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, he slashed the War Department's budget by half and the Navy Department's budget by two-thirds. His military policy left national defense to “a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them.”
To provide security along the shores of North America, the Jefferson administration touted a “mosquito fleet” of shallow-draft gunboats. The naval shipyards discontinued work on new frigates, while Congress initially authorized the construction of 15 gunboats with one or two masts. No more than 80 feet long and 20 feet across, the lightly armed craft navigated through coastal waters with ease. A handful of citizen sailors appeared sufficient to man them in peacetime. However, most officers disliked the smaller vessels but preferred to serve aboard the warships that sailed for deep waters. Because Republicans appreciated their low cost and simple design, gunboats became central to national defense for years to come.
Even before Republicans cut spending on national defense, the North African regencies of Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, and Tripoli plundered maritime commerce in the Mediterranean Sea. Motivated by the lure of booty, the Barbary pirates regularly demanded tribute payments in exchange for allowing commercial ships to pass unmolested. If they captured a ship's crew, then they held the men for ransom or sold them into slavery. They accumulated great sums of money, ships, and arms from foreign governments. Prior to 1800, the U.S. paid tribute to protect American ships and sailors from harassment.
Captain William Bainbridge, commander of the U.S.S. George Washington, sailed for the Barbary Coast that year. He complied with orders from the Dey of Algeria to lower the U.S. flag and to replace it with an Algerine ensign. He then sailed to Constantinople and paid tribute to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, the Pasha of Tripoli demanded more money from the U.S. and threatened to retard American shipping. Though unharmed, Bainbridge returned home to report the insults to national honor. “I hope I shall never again be sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am authorized to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon,” he informed the Jefferson administration.
Distraught by the corsairs, Jefferson wanted to “chastise their insolence.” During 1801, the cabinet voted to dispatch a naval squadron to the Barbary Coast under the command of Commodore Richard Dale. The commander-in-chief told Dale to use force if attacked, although he did not seek congressional authorization for military action. The pasha chopped down the flagpole at the American consulate to signal a declaration of war, while Dale established a leaky blockade upon his arrival. Unimpressed by the paltry number of warships, the Sultan of Morocco also declared war on the U.S. Another squadron, under Commodore Richard V. Morris, sailed for the Mediterranean a year later. His frigates safeguarded American merchantmen and confronted Tripolitan gunboats. He planned to pressure the pasha into negotiating a treaty, but Jefferson eventually ordered him dismissed from service after months of inactivity.
A squadron under Commodore Edward Preble imposed a tighter blockade in late 1803. With three frigates in the lead, he captured two Moroccan ships and forced the sultan to sign a peace agreement in Tangiers. He sent Bainbridge with the U.S.S. Philadelphia, a 36-gun frigate, to Tripoli. However, the Philadelphia ran aground on a reef while chasing a schooner in the harbor. Forced to strike his colors, Bainbridge surrendered his warship and his crew of 307 to the Tripolitans. Consequently, the pasha demanded a heavy ransom from Preble.
With Preble's approval, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur undertook a daring mission against the pasha. The 25-year-old steered a ketch named the U.S.S. Intrepid into the harbor, while his crew of 60 disguised themselves as Arab sailors. On February 16, 1804, they boarded the captured Philadelphia and attacked the corsairs with swords and tomahawks. After putting the frigate to torch, they escaped from the harbor aboard the Intrepid. Without the loss of a single American, the mission took only 20 minutes. Decatur won a promotion, thereby making him the youngest officer to receive the rank of captain in the Navy.
Decatur reversed the tide in the Mediterranean with his valor, which emboldened Preble to plan an attack on Tripoli. On August 3, six American gunboats engaged 19 Tripolitan craft in the harbor. They captured and damaged several enemy vessels while bombarding the city with heavy fire. The attacks took a terrible toll on the pirates, but the pasha refused to negotiate.
Unfortunately, Decatur's brother, James, was killed in the attacks. With tears in his eyes, the captain returned to the harbor to avenge his brother's death. He found the killer, who wielded a boarding pike. His cutlass broke at the hilt, but Decatur wrestled his adversary to the ship's deck. A boatswain's mate, Reuben James, stepped in the way of another pirate's sword, which almost struck Decatur's head from behind. Decatur pulled a pistol from his pocket and slew his brother's killer with a deadly shot at close range.
Master Commandant Richard Somers operated gunboats during the attacks, including Decatur's Intrepid. On September 4, Preble directed him to load 15,000 pounds of powder in the hold atop 250 fused shells. Wi
th a fellow officer and four volunteer sailors, Somers maneuvered the “fire-ship” into the harbor. They intended to detonate it under the walls of the castle that protected the pasha from naval bombardments. That night, an explosion erupted a few hundred yards short of their objective. Somers and his comrades chose to blow up the Intrepid prematurely rather than to surrender in a pitched battle. They perished in a flash of light.
Meanwhile, Jefferson sent Commodore Samuel Barron with four more frigates to the shores of Tripoli. He relieved Preble from command and assembled a squadron with nearly all the warships of the Navy. Appointed as a special agent for the Navy, William Eaton headed to Alexandria in Egypt. Thanks to his ability to speak fluent Arabic, the former Army captain and ex-consul made a pact with the pasha's exiled brother, Hamet Karamanli. They began recruiting hundreds of foreign mercenaries to undertake an overland march against the regency. Accompanied by a detachment of eight marines and two midshipmen, they trekked for six weeks across the Libyan Desert. In a joint operation, Captain Isaac Hull of the U.S.S. Argus and Eaton converged at Tripoli's easternmost port, Derne. During the Battle of Derne on April 28, 1805, they wrested the town from the corsairs with a concerted land and sea assault. After storming the outer fort, Marine Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon planted the U.S. flag on the walls of the battery.
Awed by American heroics, the pasha agreed to sign a treaty with the U.S. He received a $60,000 payment to release the Philadelphia prisoners but not to maintain peace. With the U.S. flag restored to the consulate in Tripoli, Commodore John Rodgers steered the naval squadron toward other ports on the Barbary Coast. The troubles with Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco subsided, as the threat of more American strikes deterred acts of piracy that year.
To counter the forces of terror and extortion, the American military fought for the first time on foreign soil. From the decks of gunboats to the shores of Tripoli, the exploits of Decatur, Preble, and O'Bannon surprised the adversaries of the U.S. They leveled searing attacks against the Barbary pirates while taking urgent steps to protect maritime commerce. Satisfied by the outcome of the Tripolitan War, the Jefferson administration soon recalled most of the Navy from the Mediterranean.
West Point
Before assuming the presidency, Jefferson opposed governmental efforts to establish a military academy in the U.S. The Corps of Artillerists and Engineers assigned to West Point included personnel classified as cadets, but they received no formal education. Republicans in Congress consistently defeated measures to organize or to fund a school devoted to the armed forces. Because the Constitution did not explicitly establish it, policymakers in Washington D.C. disagreed about the necessity of a military academy.
The Jefferson administration desired to reduce the influence of Federalists, who dominated the officer corps of the American military. Captain Meriwether Lewis, a 27-year-old infantry officer and the president's private secretary, reviewed a roster of all service members holding commissions. He noted individuals esteemed by “a superiority of genius and military proficiency.” While passing judgment, he ascribed the term “respectable” to a number. Likewise, some earned a favorable rating from Lewis simply as Republicans. Among the officers deemed “most violently opposed to the administration and still active in its vilification,” all but one received notice of dismissal from service. As the purge of Federalists in command proceeded, Jefferson quipped that the “Army is undergoing a chaste reformation.”
The commanding general of the Army, James Wilkinson, worried about his status in 1801. To show empathy with Republicans, he issued a general order that required men in uniform to crop their long hair. Though no longer fashionable in America, the pigtail persisted as a pompous hairstyle that differentiated soldiers from civilians. Wilkinson called it “a filthy and insalubrious ornament,” castigating subordinates wearing the powdered braids with tallow grease. In spite of the hue and cry, only a few resigned to avoid a haircut. Even if he lost favor with Federalist comrades, Wilkinson retained his seniority under Jefferson.
That year, Jefferson encouraged the Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn, to turn West Point into a military academy. Lieutenant Colonel Louis de Tousard, a French soldier who served in the American Revolution, took command of the garrison by September. His orders from the War Department urged him to provide classroom instruction to a dozen cadets. As a former instructor at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, England, George Baron delivered lectures on mathematics during the mornings. Jonathan Williams, a reputed scientist and vice president of the American Philosophical Society, received an executive appointment as the Inspector of Fortifications and Superintendent. Although he disregarded the plans of predecessors, the commander-in-chief incorporated education into the military establishment.
On March 16, 1802, Congress passed the Military Peace Establishment Act to overhaul the Army. By cutting the authorized strength from 4,051 to 2,873, it eliminated numerous officer positions from active service rosters. The force reductions not only saved thousands of dollars in the federal budget but also gave the War Department an opportunity to shake up the staff. With many Federalists discharged from senior levels of the Army, the Jefferson administration intended to replace them with Republicans in the lower ranks.
The key provisions of the Military Peace Establishment Act involved the Corps of Engineers. Comprising 10 cadets and seven officers, they trained at West Point while serving “as the President of the United States shall direct.” Under the superintendence of the principal engineer, they constituted the personnel for what became the United States Military Academy, or USMA. The War Department procured “the necessary books, implements, and apparatus for the use and benefit of the said institution.” While resonating with the principles of the European Enlightenment, the school focused on imparting useful knowledge to potential officers.
Mindful of federal austerity, congressmen acted indifferent to the school for years. Upon the craggy highland next to the Hudson River, old Fort Putnam towered over the grounds. Scattered houses and assorted structures appeared across the 40 acres, including two yellow buildings that contained retired cannons and war trophies. The superintendent kept his headquarters in a small building called the Salt Box. Ranging in age from 10 to 34, the “gentleman cadets” made their own arrangements for lodging. Each received $16 per month plus two rations a day. Nevertheless, one cadet complained that “morals and knowledge thrive little and courts-martial and flogging prevail.” Despite an unimpressive beginning, West Point accentuated a professional ethos that transcended the partisan creeds.
During the first full year of classes at West Point, Superintendent Williams organized the United States Military Philosophical Society. The Corps of Engineers formed the governing body, while civilians joined by application. They held meetings twice a month in a classroom, where early lecture topics included solar eclipses, floating batteries, musket barrels, and land surveys. They established an outstanding library that contained the only copy in the U.S. of the Marquis de Montalembert's 10 volumes on fortifications. With the military arts and sciences arousing public interest, they held meetings at City Hall in New York and at the War Office in Washington D.C. Jefferson endorsed the Society’s activities and became one of the first non-military members.
Driven by deep suspicions about career officers, Jefferson endeavored to remake the Army in his own image. His tenure in office resulted in appointments to the military academy that promoted Republicans in the corps. Irrespective of their ideological persuasions, technicians in uniform studied mathematics and science. Moreover, their higher education benefited the nation as a whole by affirming martial attributes in addition to civic-mindedness. Even if the Jeffersonian impulse tended to politicize national defense, the federal government recognized the significance of the military profession with the establishment of West Point.
Army of Adventurers
“Every eye in the U.S. is now fixed on this affair of Louisiana,” wrote Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, the U.S. amba
ssador in Paris. Because Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, the president asked Monroe to assist Livingston with negotiations to acquire the port of New Orleans in 1803. Napoleon planned to build an American empire going forward, but military losses in Haiti forced a change in French strategy. Therefore, Talleyrand asked the Americans: “What will you give for the whole?” According to the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, the U.S. obtained over 885,000 square miles for close to $15 million. The acquisition more than doubled the size of the American republic.
While extending the sphere of the republic, Jefferson expected the Army to establish the rule of law beyond the Mississippi River. The Indian, Spanish, and French inhabitants owed no allegiance to the U.S., even though the treaty promised to welcome them as citizens. Once the edge of American settlement crossed the banks of the river, squabbles over land necessitated the deployment of troops and the building of outposts. Furthermore, no fortifications marked the precise boundaries along the Rocky Mountains or near British Canada. The president hastily drafted a possible constitutional amendment, which defined the area north of 31 degrees latitude as an Indian reserve. Although the Senate ratified the treaty without approving any amendments, the uncharted wilderness presented enormous challenges for national defense.
Working with civilian authorities to implement the treaty, the Army took possession of the Louisiana Purchase on December 20, 1803. Wilkinson led a combined force of 500 regulars and militia to New Orleans, where they replaced the French colors with the U.S. flag. The military occupation proceeded without incident, as Spanish troops soon withdrew beyond the Sabine River to Nacogdoches. East of the river, Americans in uniform stood guard in Natchitoches. Within a few months, the War Department secured the outposts in the Mississippi valley. The lower section became known as the Orleans Territory, while Indiana Territory under General William Henry Harrison temporarily absorbed the rest. Although France no longer posed a danger to American interests in Louisiana, tensions with Spain began to mount.
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