Lady Lashay · @LadyLashay1776
23rd Jun 2013 from TwitLonger
During the meeting Jefferson and Adams asked the Dey's ambassador why
Muslims held so much hostility towards America , a nation with which they
had no previous contacts.
In a later meeting with the American Congress, 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."
For the following 15 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 20
percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800.
Not long after Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, he dispatched
a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean , and
informed Congress.
Declaring that America was going to spend "millions for defense but not one
cent for tribute," Jefferson pressed the issue by deploying American
Marines and many of America 's best warships to the Muslim Barbary Coast.
The USS Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Philadelphia, USS Chesapeake,
USS Argus, USS Syren and USS Intrepid all saw action.
In 1805, American Marines marched across the dessert from Egypt into
Tripolitania, forcing the surrender of Tripoli and the freeing of all
American slaves.
During the Jefferson administration, the Muslim Barbary States, crumbling
as a result of intense American naval bombardment and on shore raids by
Marines, finally officially agreed to abandon slavery and piracy.
Jefferson's victory over the Muslims lives on today in the Marine Hymn,
with the line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli , we
will fight our country's battles on the land as on the sea."
It wasn't until 1815 that the problem was fully settled by the total defeat
of all the Muslim slave trading pirates.
Jefferson had been right. The "medium of war" was the only way to put an
end to the Muslim problem. Mr. Ellison was right about Jefferson . He was a
"visionary" wise enough to read and learn about the enemy from their own
Muslim book of jihad.
#tcot #ocra #icon #bcot #teaparty #history #AmericanHistory #WorldHistory #Marines #MarineCorps #militaryhistory