Date of Award
Summer 8-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
History
Department
History
Major Professor
Mokhiber, James
Second Advisor
Mitchell, Mary N.
Third Advisor
Millett, Allan
Abstract
The following essay examines the image of "Barbary piracy" created by two prominent political figures, Thomas Jefferson and William Eaton, and by the American public from 1784 to 1805, and how those images shaped the policy of the American-Barbary War. Eaton‟s Orientalist approach to describing piracy and the North African population limited his views of this region, thus reducing the American conflict to the annihilation of animalistic "brutes." Jefferson‟s practical approach to describing piracy and the North African population focused on emancipating the region from the corrupting influence of greed, allowing him the necessary flexibility to solve the conflict by either by military force or with peace treaties, whichever was necessary. I will show the impact that categorizing piracy as either the result of a depraved society or as a corrupting force had on both American perceptions of the North Africa people and on the outcome of the American-Barbary War.
Recommended Citation
Meyers, Stacy, "“Emancipation from that Degrading Yoke”: Thomas Jefferson, William Eaton and “Barbary Piracy” from 1784 to 1805" (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 448.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/448
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.