HASSAN PASHA

The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom.

This letter to the Pasha (ruler) of Tripoli was contained in the original Arabic text of the American treaty with Tripoli in 1796. The letter was found between articles 10 and 12 with the eleventh article, as it appears in the English version by Joel Barlow, not included. Interestingly, the eleventh article of the Treaty of Tripoli has been the subject of attention in the debate over the separation of Church and State in America, see Barlow. The article’s lack of inclusion in the original version of the treaty is still a mystery.

This letter to the Pasha (ruler) of Tripoli was contained in the original Arabic text of the American treaty with Tripoli in 1796. The letter was found between articles 10 and 12 with the eleventh article, as it appears in the English version by Joel Barlow, not included. Interestingly, the eleventh article of the Treaty of Tripoli has been the subject of attention in the debate over the separation of Church and State in America, see Barlow. The article’s lack of inclusion in the original version of the treaty is still a mystery.

The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom.