Stopping Piracy Matters

Claude Berube / June 14, 2010

After the American Revolution, ships that were deemed too costly to maintain were sold as merchant ships. Swords had been beaten into plowshares, cannons had been beaten into anchors. By the late 1780s, however, American merchant ships had become easy prey to pirates. Lightly armed, if at all, ship after ship fell victim to the risks of the high seas, particularly in the Mediterranean. Families and communities were forced to pay ransoms for the return of their missing sailors; the government was reduced to paying tribute to the Barbary States to prevent more attacks. Piracy went unabated because of the absence of an American Navy.

These conditions largely led to the Founders to include a clause in the Constitution under Article I, Section 8 “to define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas” and, under that same section, “to provide and maintain a Navy.” When tributes to the Barbary States reached 20 percent of the federal budget, the United States sent its squadrons to end the attacks, prevent further threats, and protect commerce. Ships conducting anti-piracy operations elsewhere continued on for several decades as threats rose and subsided in the Caribbean, the Adriatic, and the Straits of Malacca. (more…)