Treaty with Tripoli (1796)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

The Treaty of Tripoli (the Treaty of Peace and Friendship) was a 1796 peace treaty between the United States and Tripoli. It was signed at Tripoli on November 4, 1796 and at Algiers (for a third-party guarantee) on January 3, 1797 by Joel Barlow, the American consul-general to the Barbary states of Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis. The official treaty was in Arabic text, and a translated version provided by Barlow was ratified by the United States on June 10, 1797. Although the United States government has used Barlow's translated version, there has been considerable controversy as to the discrepancy between the official Arabic document and the translated version.

1 Controversy regarding Article 11
2 Historical context
- 2.1 Barbary Pirates
- 2.2 First Barbary War
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Controversy regarding Article 11

The English translated version of the Treaty is notable for Article 11, which reads:

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Article 11 has been a point of contention regarding the proper interpretation of the doctrine of separation of church and state. It is sometimes argued that this provision is confirmation that the government of the United States was specifically intended to be religiously neutral, or that the United States is not historically "Christian."

Supporters of this view argue that the treaty states categorically that the United States of America is not founded upon the Christian religion, and that this treaty, with that statement intact, was read before and passed unanimously by the United States Senate, and was signed by the President of the United States without a hint of controversy or discord. They also sometimes contend that it is the earliest and most definitive statement from what could be called a fair and representative sampling of the "Founding Fathers" regarding the secular nature of American government.

Opponents of this view downplay this assertion, arguing that the phrase has been widely misinterpreted. The Treaty Of Tripoli clearly states that "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion...", and that is a fact. The government of the US, that is, the federal government, is not based on any religion, Christian or other. If it were, that would violate the First Amendment in that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion'. If the writers had put 'the US government is a Christian one', then that would be false. Note, however, that it does not say that the nation of the United States was not founded on the Christian religion. The Treaty of Tripoli simply enforces a non-biased government.

Some also contend that Article 11 was atypical of documents of the day, and note that, at the time the treaty was negotiated, although the federal government of the United States was religiously neutral, many American States and towns still had official established churches, or permitted only Christians to hold public office (a position unanimously struck down by the US Supreme Court in Torcaso v. Watkins). Additionally, they cite an earlier pre-Constitutional treaty: The 1783 treaty with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War begins, "In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity..." They also point to religious references in a few other documents that preceded the ratification of the Constitution, such as the 1781 Articles of Confederation which includes the phrase, "Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World," and the Declaration of Independence which references the "Creator" and "Nature's God," as well as several documents (including both the United States Constitution and the Articles of Confederation) which were dated, "in the year of our Lord" (i.e., from the birth of Christ). Some, but not all, of the references cited above support the contention that the founding fathers believed in Deism, the religious conviction that a "grand watch-maker," who created the universe according to laws of nature and then withdrew, allowing the watch-works to run according to those laws (laws which man, by application of his reason, could understand). Deism is not Christian in any meaningful sense. Additionally, supporters respond that these phrases, usually found in the preambles of the cited documents, are "mere diplomatic window dressing", statements that were made solely because they seemed diplomatic. However, this argument is weak for two reasons. First, the framers had escaped the power of the Church of England, and thus gained the opportunity to abjure false religious beliefs. Second, the same argument can be leveled against the religious claims in the Treaty of Tripoli: the advantage of affirming Article 11 is obvious, since the other party to the treaty was not Christian. Also, some of the above statements could be interpreted as Deist, but all could be interpreted as Christian.

In 1930, there was contention that the existent original Arabic version of Article 11 was gibberish and that the original Article 11 was not an article at all, but a letter from the Dey of Algiers to the Pasha of Tripoli. ^[1] ^[2] This contention arises from the declaration within this article that the United States was never founded as a Christian nation. Nevertheless it is established that Joel Barlow's English translation of Article 11, as recorded in the certified copy of January 4, 1797, is contained in the version of the treaty that was approved by President John Adams and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and ratified by the Senate.

There exists an additional certified copy of the original Arabic Treaty made by James Cathcart. This copy confirms that Article 11 was not a part of the Arabic original, but was for some reason revised in the English translation that was ultimately ratified.

The Treaty was broken in 1801 by the Pasha of Tripoli and renegotiated in 1805 after the First Barbary War, at which time Article 11 was removed.

[edit] Historical context

[edit] Barbary Pirates

At the time of the Treaty and for 300 years prior, the Mediterranean Sea lanes were largely controlled by the north African Muslim states of the Barbary Coast (Tripoli, Algiers, Morocco, and Tunis) through piracy. Hostages were either ransomed or sold into slavery. Over time, most countries found it expedient to simply pay a yearly tribute (bribe) to the Barbary sultans in exchange for safe passage through the Mediterranean.

Following the American Revolution, America was no longer under the protection of the British tribute treaties, resulting in the crippling of American commerce in the Mediterranean. Having no significant Navy, the U.S. decided to form tribute treaties with the Barbary states, such as this 1796 Treaty of Tripoli.

[edit] First Barbary War

In March 1801, the pasha of Tripoli demanded more tribute than previously agreed upon. The newly inaugurated U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson, having long disagreed with the policy of paying tribute, refused the pasha's demand. On May 10, 1801, the pasha declared war on the United States.

On June 4, 1805, under the imminent threat of U.S. action, Tobias Lear negotiated the Treaty of Peace and Amity with the Pasha Yusuf. To the dismay of many Americans, this included a ransom of $60,000 paid for the release of prisoners from the Philadelphia and several American merchant ships.

By 1807, Algiers had gone back to taking American ships and seamen hostage. Distracted by the preludes to the War of 1812, the Americans were unable to respond to the provocations until 1815, with the Second Barbary War, thereby concluding the encompassing Tripolian War (1800-1815).