Archives/Research

My idea for a digital archives project would be to search and read through all the Annals of Congress available at the Library of Congress's American Memory site for references to the Barbary Powers during the Jefferson Administration. I would look in these records for any congressional deliberation on using military power without a declaration of war. This is a thought I've had that the war on the Barbary states was one of the first undeclared wars of the United States, and I would be curious if there was any concern about this during Jefferson's administration. The Annals of Congress (the predecessor of the Congressional Record) is easily accessible at the American Memory site under the main title of Records of Congress. There is a useful search engine you can use to search both chambers of congress by session. My search for "Barbary pirates" brought up a number of documents in the years 1801-1803 and 1803-1805, but Congress referred to the Barbary pirates as the "Barbary Powers." It seems the word "pirates" was not used. The online archives is a very easy way to search the available records of Congress for any references to the conflict with the Barbary Powers. Whether there was any consideration of the question I am raising would be determined by reading through a select number of documents (about 20 or so).