What is the difference between a “Pirate” and a “Privateer”?
The answer is – you’re a “Privateer” if you have a “Letter of Marque” that says you are a legal pirate and have the right to steal if you give a percentage to the government.
When the Continental Congress decided it was time to fight England, they had very little money to create a navy. Without a navy (or help from a country like France who had a navy), any long term chance of defeating the English was slim and none.
So the Founding Fathers declared their new “country” to be at war with England, and authorized Privateers to attack England’s unarmed merchant ships anywhere in the world and “take their stuff”. A portion of the “loot” would be given to the government that issued them the license to pirate.
John Paul Jones (“I have not yet begun to fight!”) was a privateer. He uttered that phrase while off the coast of England. He wasn’t “defending” the United States or trying to sink England’s navy – he was looting “the rich” merchant ships of England.
Jefferson’s notion that the “Right to Property” is an unalienable right seems to contradict the “legal” stealing that helped win the Revolution – all the more ironic when Jefferson later sent the Marines to “the shores of Tripoli” to stop the “Pirates” who were preying American merchant ships. Much of life is “Us” vs “Them”, not “right vs wrong”.
More than likely, the people behind the Boston Tea Party were smugglers who saw the reduction in the Tea Tax was going to dry up demand for their lucrative tea smuggling business..
History is not a Disney cartoon, Arrghhh. Matey.
Care for some tea?