Thomas Jefferson Quotes

He didn’t succeed until Mahan wrote his marvelous treatise.

See {629350} for his reason that we had to have a strong navy.

Adams urged paying tribute to the Barbary Pirates who 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. Most of the European powers were paying the annual tribute as they calculated that it was cheaper than patrolling the Mediterranean with warships or going to war with the Barbary States. More important for Adams was that he did not think that the country would support such a military action. See {640847} That was Adams’ thinking. Jefferson however, sent our Navy and Marines to our first foreign war, and they were very effective. However, despite the American military victories, and because of the inability for the European powers to collaborate and share the burden of naval patrol, the United States went back to the craven policy of paying the blackmail. See {640846} & {640848}.

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. See {640845} ,{640846} & {640848}

See {640847}, {640845} & {640846}. The capitalization is exactly as Adams wrote it. Note the omission of a capital letter for “congress” for whom he and many others had little respect even then.

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier. 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.

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.

The United States had no navy at that point.

This quotation illustrates some of the interesting attitudes of early Americans. First, note the backhanded slap at a standing army. The navy was much preferred by early Americans as history had demonstrated that most republics had been destroyed by their own armies taking over in some “emergency” of time of “crisis.” This also helps explain why the army and navy were different departments of government—a tradition that lasted until after WWII. The two departments had totally different purposes and objectives and presented different potential dangers to the nation.

America’s oldest foreign policy problem has been freedom of the seas for American shipping. Since the end of WWII, the U. S. however performed this function—and pays for it—for the entire world with some minor exceptions.

He was referring to the Algerian Barbary Pirates who 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. Ames was well known for his hyperbole and fear of all the worst possible consequences. He was in many ways like some of the Tea Party of the 21st century who saw immigrants taking over the country and Muslim terrorists in attack on the United States. The Algerians did not have the inclination, skill, or shipbuilding skill to handle trans-Atlantic travel.

While to Madison the principle that “war is better than tribute” was “settled policy”, there were many who disagreed. See {640867} as an example.

This quotation illustrated a military phenomenon whereby leading military commanders are important as long as they have and control many military assets. Therefore, they avoid serious battles where the might lose. Preserving assets becomes more important than the war objectives and honor and reputation trumps contribution to the war effort. History remembers well military leaders who battle and win. It also remembers leaders who control many assets and who do not lose or win. But the losing military leaders are consigned to the “dustbin of history”.

This quotation illustrates several historical differences of the past with today. To be a world superpower, one had to have a dominant navy. Yet that navy was, in Churchill’s concept, a defensive system. It could protect the nation from invasion, and its merchant ships on the seas, but a navy provided no threat to invade towns and villages in Europe or elsewhere. Germany and France in contrast, with their large armies could invade other nations and menace Europe and Asia. It also illustrates why the navy and the army were considered completely separate departments of government in that they had different functions. The early American government had a Navy Department and Secretary but no Secretary of the Army or standing army.

The notion of America flexing its military muscles and intimidating other nations by sending a fleet of 16 battle ships around the world was not greeted enthusiastically by some. However in Japan, the reaction was totally positive. The Russo-Japanese War had been ended thanks to the mediation of Theodore Roosevelt (for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) and America was a model for much of Japan’s modernization. 25 years later the Japanese would view America as an interfering, intimidating bully, curtailing their national aspirations and rights.