Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

the Americans, the Europeans were keen on their national interests and would
not allow competition, particularly commercial, from that surely enterprising
yet aggressive new nation. Astonishingly, the problems for the conclusion of
treaties of peace and commerce which confronted the United States starting
from 1776 did not emanate from the powers “on the coast of Barbary in Africa”
but originated in Europe which gave the Americans hard times before
conceding to sign treaties with them.
1. America’s ‘New Diplomacy’
Even though the term ‘New Diplomacy’ was used for the first time in
1793, the idea of a new form of diplomacy, different from ‘old policy’ or
‘power politics’ as exercised so far by the warring colonial powers, found
expression in the ‘model treaty’ that was introduced by the Americans in 1776
as a basis for negotiations with the European powers for diplomatic recognition
and commercial treaties. The ideas and arguments implied in this concept were
picked almost word for word from European eighteenth-century thinkers and
philosophers—just like the Declaration of Independence. 5 Originally defending
an idea of national interest—particularly trading freely in Europe and its
colonial markets, the Americans argued that commerce without the hindrance
of privileges or monopolization of markets, in other terms open markets, would
favor world peace, or to use the expression of Benjamin Franklin the general
5 The theoretical roots of New Diplomacy are traced back to the physiocrats and philosophes of the
Enlightenment Age. For origins and evolution see Felix Gilbert, “The ‘New Diplomacy’ of the
Eighteenth Century,” World Politics, 4: 1 (Oct., 1951), p. 1-16.
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