2014 Articles

Millions for Credit: Peace with Algiers and the Establishment of America’s Commercial Reputation Overseas, 1795–96

Farber, Hannah

In September 1795, the United States of America agreed to pay a large sum of money to the independent Ottoman regency of Algiers so that Algiers would not interfere with its trade in and around the Mediterranean. For the next thirteen months, the United States struggled to make the payment, and the Dey of Algiers repeatedly threatened to cancel the treaty. American historians usually narrate this series of events as a diplomatic crisis, during which the United States was forced to compensate for naval weakness with the disgraceful payment of protection money to ‘‘pirates.’’ This article argues, however, that the American–Algerian treaty is best understood as a mutually beneficial transaction between the two states, and perhaps more importantly, that American efforts to pay Algiers helped the United States by establishing American credit and credibility overseas.