In 1786, Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripolis ambassador to Great Britain. They asked this diplomat by what right his nation attacked American ships and enslaved her citizens and why the Muslims held such hostility toward this new nation, with which neither Tripoli nor any of the other Barbary Coast nations had any previous contact. The answer was quite revealing.
http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/obama-could-learn-from-thomas-jeffersons-1801-response-to-muslims-during-the-barbary-coast-war
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