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A letter of marque and reprisal (French: lettre de marque; lettre de course) was a government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with the issuer, licensing international military operations against a specified enemy as reprisal for a previous attack or injury.
The United States Constitution authorized the U.S. Congress to grant letters of marque and reprisal. Between the end of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, less than 30 years, Britain, France, Naples, the Barbary States, Spain, and the Netherlands seized approximately 2,500 American ships. [62]
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water ... A number of wars have been declared under the U.S. Constitution, although there is some controversy as to the exact number; the Constitution does not specify the form of such a declaration.
Although Letters of Marque and Reprisal were sometimes issued before a formal declaration of war, as happened during the American Revolution when the rebelling colonies of Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania all granted Letters of Marque months before the Continental Congress's official Declaration of Independence of July 1776 ...
The commissions were known as "letters of marque", which gave them the authority to raid enemy ships and exemption from piracy charges. [citation needed] Privateers have existed from as far back as the Middle Ages, where "Letters of reprisal" were issued to ship owners who were wishing to seek revenge for a loss of their own ship [34]
He was descended from Francis Peabody of St. Albans, England, in 1635.He was one of the first settlers of Topsfield, Massachusetts.During the American Revolutionary War he was an officer on privateers, and acted with credit as second officer of the letter of marque Ranger.
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Under the terms of the treaty, all letters of reprisal were revoked by Spain, and reciprocal aid to ships in distress along with permission to repair in each others ports were required. [5] England agreed to suppress piracy in the Caribbean, and in return, Spain agreed to permit English ships freedom of movement. Both agreed to refrain from ...