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Declaration of War

When: 10 May 1801 (reported; day unverified)
Where: United States Consulate
Part of: Tripoli declares war on the United States

Yusuf Karamanli declared war on the United States on 10 May 1801 by cutting down the flagstaff at the U.S. Consulate.

The declaration was made in the customary Barbary manner, not through formal written documents. It followed the refusal of a $225,000 tribute demand by President Jefferson, violating the 1796 Treaty with Tripoli. One source dates the act to 10 May 1801, while another describes it only as an unofficial declaration in May 1801, so the precise day remains unverified.

Sources

First Barbary War Wikipedia
Yusuf Karamanli Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-10

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.