America's First Foreign War
When Thomas Jefferson took office as President in 1800, he had a choice: continue to pay as much as a million dollars a year to protect American merchant ships on the Mediterranean Sea from pirates, or use the fledgling United States Navy to fight back. Without payment, sailors would be sold into slavery or killed. The US had been paying hefty amounts since the Revolutionary War ended, without much choice in the matter, until the new nation could build a Navy. In 1801, Jefferson refused to pay and went to war. At the same time, he tried to neutralize an enemy ruler by supporting a regime change. Jefferson's efforts were not an immediate success, and it was not until a second war under President Madison that the payments and piracy completely stopped.
At home, the need for a Navy strengthened the hand of Jefferson's political opponents, the Federalists, who wanted a strong central government.
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