‘However illegal,extraordinary or almost incredible such conduct might be’: Americans and neutrality issues in the Mediterranean during the French Wars

Abstract

This article examines the conditions under which American ships sailed into the Mediterranean during the French Wars (1793–1815), particularly in the late 1790s after the signature of peace treaties with the Barbary States. Theoretically, such treaties should have enabled Americans to take advantage of two factors: the increasing demand for neutral transport in this area, and the reorganization of international trade flows precipitated by European warfare. In fact, American ships in the Mediterranean still faced major difficulties, especially with French and Spanish privateering, against which United States’ agents and consuls tried to protect them. They not only struggled with the contradictory principles of neutrality applied by different states, but also with the private interests of belligerent privateers, consuls and judges. At the same time, American merchants and captains were tempted to cover trades which belligerents might consider illegal. Commercial realities blurred traditional concepts of national allegiance and affiliation. Based on primary sources, this article argues that neutrality should be conceived within an evolving system of relations in a given region, rather than as a clear-cut, objective legal determination of the status of neutral shipping and the maritime trading rights of a given flag.