The Crescent Obscured

The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815

Robert Allison

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780226014906
• eBook ISBN: 9780226308579
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

From the beginning of the colonial period to the recent conflicts in the Middle East, encounters with the Muslim world have helped Americans define national identity and purpose. Focusing on America's encounter with the Barbary states of North Africa from 1776 to 1815, Robert Allison traces the perceptions and mis-perceptions of Islam in the American mind as the new nation constructed its ideology and system of government.

"A powerful ending that explains how the experience with the Barbary states compelled many Americans to look inward . . . with increasing doubts about the institution of slavery." —David W. Lesch, Middle East Journal

"Allison's incisive and informative account of the fledgling republic's encounter with the Muslim world is a revelation with a special pertinence to today's international scene." —Richard W. Bulliet, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This book should be widely read. . . . Allison's study provides a context for understanding more recent developments, such as America's tendency to demonize figures like Iran's Khumaini, Libya's Qaddafi, and Iraq's Saddam." —Richard M. Eaton, Eighteenth Century Studies

Index

Abdurrahman, 12

Adams, Henry, 200

Adams, John

—administration, 23–24, 30, 153–54, 176

—advocates gifts, xvi, 10

—on American character, 10–11

—appoints consuls, xvi, 247n.1

—criticized by Lyon, 41–42

—“Discourses on Davila,” 39–40

—election of 1800, 179

—negotiates with Abdurrahman, 12

—on Notes on Virginia, 88

—political philosophy, 39–40, 46, 55

—and Vergennes, 5

—on XYZ affair, 162

Adams, John Quincy, 40, 198, 209, 218

Addison, Joseph, 65

Alberganty, Julius Cesar, 173

The Algerine Captive, 93–95, 101

Algiers

—American captives in, 14, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, 127, 133

—and American ships, xv–xvi, 3, 7, 20, 89–90, 128

—American treaties with, 22, 149–150, 156–57, 162

—American tribute to, 22, 23, 24, 156, 162, 175

—commissions American cruisers, 154, 160–62

—declares war on U.S., 3, 7, 9, 209

—Dey of, 3, 56, 104, 173. See also Hajj ’Ali Pacha; Hassan; Mustafa Bobba; Zaphira

—England and, 3–4, 15, 20, 25–26, 143, 173

—government and society, 53–54, 55, 56, 62

—peace likely with, 143–44

—plague, 14, 131

—Portugal and, 9, 20, 129

—Russia and, 13

—Spain and, 9

—as symbol, 184

—Turkey and, 55, 77

—Tripoli and, 27, 179–80

The American Captive (play). See The Sultan, or a Peep into the Seraglio

“The American Captive in Algiers” (poem), 189

“American Captive in Tripoli” (poem), 194

The American Captive, or Siege of Tripoli (play), 99–100, 201–4. See also theatre

American Revolution, xiii, 45, 72, 74, 90, 137, 148

—Bunker Hill, 90, 195

—Revolutionary fathers, 204–5, 206

—Riley and, 211

Ap...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Frontispiece
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One. American Policy Toward the Muslim World
• Two. The United States and the Specter of Islam
• Three. A Peek Into the Seraglio: Americans, Sex, and the Muslim World
• Four. American Slavery and the Muslim World
• Five. American Captives in the Muslim World
• Gallery of Illustrations
• Six. The Muslim World and American Benevolence
• Seven. American Consuls in the Muslim World
• Eight. Remembering the Tripolitan War
• Nine. James Riley, the Return of the Captive
• Notes
• Index