Smoke, Coffee, and Piracy: Adams and the 1786 Barbary Negotiations

On a brisk day in February of 1786, John Adams stepped into the home of Sidi Haji Abdrahaman, the envoy from the Barbary State of Tripoli. Adams spent much of his political and diplomatic career being taken as a nobody, described by his former friend turned political enemy Jonathan Sewall as having, “none of the essential arts or ornaments which constitute a courtier.”[1] Public opinion notwithstanding, Adams understood the importance of his role as minister to the Court at St. James’s. As he crossed the threshold of the envoy’s door, he surely felt this weight, but what he did not know was that he was beginning a diplomatic negotiation that would end in war nearly two decades later.

Adams was surprised at being welcomed into the envoy’s home, assuming he would only be leaving a card instead. Servants invited him in and seated him next to Abdrahaman in a large chair, bringing in two large lit pipes full of harsh tobacco. The servants next brought in steaming cups of coffee and Adams began to puff and sip so precisely that the servants exclaimed that he must be a native, which should have put an end to the idea that the stiff New Englander was an inept diplomat. The envoy informed Adams that a state war was currently underway between the two nations, shocking Adams as he felt there had been no injury to justify a war. Abdrahaman explained that the Barbary States of North Africa (Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli, and Morocco) would demand tribute, essentially a bribe, to sign a treaty and allow commerce to travel in or around the Mediterranean Sea.

In the years preceding the War of Independence, America fell under the umbrella of protection provided by the British, but with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America was on her own to ensure peace on a global scale. The French, likewise, were unwilling to assist the United States in ensuring a flourishing Mediterranean trade. The Barbary states knew America’s economy was on rocky footing and leveraged this as they were certain America would have to pay for safe passage or deflate their own economy. Adams penned a letter to Thomas Jefferson in France explaining the humor of the situation, but also the dire nature of consequences.[2]