European maritime powers pay the tribute demanded by the rulers of the privateering states of North Africa (Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco) to prevent attacks on their shipping by corsairs.

United States merchant ships, no longer covered by British tribute payments after the American Revolution, are seized and sailors enslaved in the years that follow independence.

In 1794 the United States Congress appropriates funds for the construction of warships to counter the privateering threat in the Mediterranean.

Despite the naval preparations, the United States concludes a treaty with the dey of Algiers in 1797, guaranteeing payment of tribute amounting to ten million US dollars over a twelve-year period in return for a promise that Algerian corsairs will not molest United States shipping.

Payments in ransom and tribute to the privateering states amounts to twenty percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800.