The Ambassador [of Tripoli] answered us that it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not answer their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Jay and Congress, March 28, 1786, explaining why Barbary pirates were attacking American shipping and abducting American sailors.
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