Millions for Credit: Peace with Algiers and the Establishment of America’s Commercial Reputation Overseas, 1795–96
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. This trade was of great importance for American farmers and merchants, who hoped to meet warring European armies’ increased demand for grain, as well as for the American commercial fleet, which sought to increase its share of the Mediterranean carrying trade. For the next thirteen months, however, the United States struggled to make the payment, and the Dey of Algiers repeatedly threatened to cancel the treaty.  American historians usually describe this series of events as a diplomatic crisis and national disgrace, during which the United States was forced to pay protection money to safeguard its ships from the Algerian corsair fleets mistakenly termed “pirates.” This article argues, however, that the American payment to Algiers benefited the United States by establishing American commercial credit and political credibility overseas. As the treaty payment left the Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, entered the London financial markets, and passed through the hands of merchant houses in Cadiz and Livorno, a diverse group of international creditors became invested in American success. When the payment at last arrived as specie in Algiers, government leaders, diplomats, merchants and insurers around Europe and the Mediterranean had new reason to believe that the credit of the new republic was good.
From Shylocks to Unbelievers: Early National Views of “Oriental” Jews
ABSTRACT:While scholars have expended much effort recently on discerning American representations of Islam from the literature on the United States' contact with the so-called Barbary nations, there has been no systematic effort to examine representation of Jews in the same literature. Examining literature produced by captives, diplomats, missionaries, and others, the author argues that representations of Jews initially (1785-1815) were produced primarily by diplomats and sailors who made much use of the Shylock stereotype, but later (1815-1830) were produced by missionaries who focused more on what they viewed as Jewish stubbornness and intolerance. The final portion of the article discusses the relevance of these representations to the expanding domestic Jewish population.
The Commercial Relations of England and Portugal, 1487–1807
Roughly speaking the modern history of Anglo-Portuguese commerce falls into two distinct parts, the period before and after the momentous treaty of 1654. From the end of the fifteenth century up to 1580 the commercial interests of England and Portugal were overshadowed by their rivalry for the trade of Africa, As yet, England put forward little claim to a share in the riches of the East. Henry VIII. did, indeed, attempt to bargain with the Portuguese king for a part in one of the Portuguese expeditions to India. His overtures were rejected, however, and the English concentrated their attention on the trade with Africa. But the Portuguese guarded their possessions in Barbary and Guinea as jealously as their treasure-house in the East. By the middle of the sixteenth century the question grew acute. Philip and Mary forbade their subjects to trade in places under the king of Portugal's government. The merchants ingenuously pleaded that they did no such thing; they merely lay in their ships off the coast, and the natives came to them in boats and traded with them: but even this innocent performance was forbidden by Queen Mary, under the influence of Philip, the natural champion of colonial monopoly.