Page 27 - NS-2 Textbook

The Growth of American Sea Power,

1783-1860

When the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War in possible for American merchantu1en in the Mediter-
1783, the new nation was badly in debt. The government ranean to join with Portuguese and Spanish convoys for
did not have authority to raise money through taxation, so protection. The need for a navy seemed less urgent.
there were no funds for maintaining ships or building new One of the first acts of the new U.S. govemment
ones. In 1783, when the Alliance was sold, the old Conti- helped American merchants. TI,e government decided to
nental Navy passed into history. The officers and men impose tariffs (taxes) on incoming foreign shipping,
who had served in the Continental Navy retumed to their which gave an immediate advantage to U.S. shipping.
peacetime jobs of merchant shipping and shipbuilding. Additionally, British West hldian planters needed and
American merchant mariners and shipbuilders soon began welcoming U.S. ships and the goods they carried,
found, howevel; that the British were not going to make despite the Orders in COlllCil that prohibited such trade.
life easy for them. The British government issued Orders With these incentives, US. shipping and shipbuild-
in Council that sought to keep Americans out of the East ing grew rapidly until 1793. In that year Portugal and Al-
Indies trade, limited exports to England, and made it il- giers declared a truce, and soon thereaftel; a pirate fleet
legal for British subjects to buy ships built in America. captured ten US. ships in the Mediterranean. In addi-
Thus, American merchants had to find new overseas tion, in 1790 the Napoleonic Wars had broken out in Eu-
markets for their trade. Some looked to China, but it was rope, and France had declared war on Britain. British
far away, and getting there took a lot of time and money. warships then began to seize neutral vessels trading with
Now that the protection of the British flag was removed, France, and French privateers began capturing neutral
American ships trading in the Mediterranean and east- vessels trading with British possessions such as the West
em Atlantic region became subject to harassment by pi- Indies. TI,e time had come for the United States to give
rates from the Barbary states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, serious consideration to building a navy.
and Tripoli. They had been capturing ships and crews for
ransom in these waters for hundreds of years. European
nations such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands had THE NAVY ACT OF 1794
long paid these states tribute money so they could sail
these waters in safety, but the United States had no such Not all Americans were in favor of building a navy.
arrangements. In 1784 and 1785 three American ships Those who lived inland did not want to be taxed for
were seized by the Barbary pirates. The United States something they felt would benefit mainly those who
concluded a treaty of peace and friendship with Morocco lived along the coast. So the Navy Act that Congress
in 1786, but no agreements were reached with the other eventually passed in 1794 provided for only six frigates,
Barbary states for another ten years. and their construction would stop if the United States
made peace with Algiers. In 1796 this happened, but
President Washington convinced Congress to allow work
A NEW AMERICAN GOVERNMENT on three of the frigates to be completed. The United States
and Constitutio11, both forty-four guns, and the Constella-
h1 1789 the Articles of Confederation were replaced by tion, thirty-eight guns, were launched in 1797.
the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution authorized Con- The British realized early in their war with
gress Hto provide and maintain a navy," but other needs Napoleon's France that they would need trade goods
in the new nation were more pressing. Besides, a war had carried in U.S. ships, and so they stopped seizing them.
started between Portugal and Algiers, and this made it The British and the Americans worked out their other

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