Naval Act of 1794

The Act to Provide a Naval Armament(Sess. 1, ch. 12, 1 Stat. 350), also known as
the Naval Act of 1794, or simply, the Naval Act, was passed by the 3rd United
States Congress on March 27, 1794 and signed into law by President George
Washington. The act authorized the construction of six frigates at a total cost of
$688,888.82. These ships were the first ships of what eventually became the present-
day United States Navy.[1]

Contents
Purpose
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Purpose The Act to Provide a Naval

Armament
In August 1785, after the Revolutionary War drew to a close, Congress had sold
Alliance, the last ship remaining in the Continental Navy due to a lack of funds to
maintain the ship or support a navy.[2][3] From then until 1797, the United States'
only armed maritime service was the Revenue Marine, founded in 1790 at the
prompting of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.[4][5] In the same year,
1785, two American merchant ships had been captured by the Muslim state of
Algiers and then Minister to France Thomas Jefferson began to urge the need for an
American naval force to protect their passage through the Mediterranean. Jefferson's
recommendations were initially met with indifference. However, Congress in 1786,
and the Senate in 1791, discussed various proposals for a naval force, including
estimates of costs for building frigates, but none were acted upon.[5] Only in 1793
when Algiers Muslim Pirates had captured eleven additional merchant ships was a
proposal finally taken seriously.[6][3]

A bill was presented to theHouse of Representativeson January 20, 1794, providing

for the construction of four ships to carry forty-four guns each, and two ships to
carry thirty-six guns each — by purchase or otherwise. The bill also provided pay
and sustenance for naval officers and sailors and outlined how each ship should be
manned in order to operate them. Opposition to the bill was strong and a clause was
added that should peace be established with Algiers the construction of the ships was
to cease.[6] Page two of the Act to Provide a
Naval Armament
Piracy had not been a problem when the American colonies were a part of the
British Empire; the Royal Navy protected American vessels, since they belonged to
subjects of the British Crown. After the American Revolutionary War, however, that protection was lost, and many foreign powers
found that they could harass American merchant ships with impunity. Indeed, once the French Revolution started, Britain also started
interdicting American merchant ships and there was little the fledgling American government could do about it. This was a major
philosophical shift for the young Republic, many of whose leaders felt that a Navy would be too expensive to raise and maintain, too
imperialistic, and would unnecessarily provoke the European powers. In the end, however, it was felt necessary to protect American
interests at sea.

In March 1796, as construction of the frigates slowly progressed, a peace accord was announced between the United States and
Algiers. In accordance with clause nine of the Naval Act of 1794, a clause that specifically directed that construction of the frigates
be discontinued if peace was established, construction on all six ships was halted. After some debate and prompting by President
Washington, Congress passed an act on 20 April 1796 allowing the construction and funding to continue only on the three ships
nearest to completion:United States,[7] Constellation[8] and Constitution.[9][10][11]

By late 1798 however, France began to seize American merchant vessels and the attempt at a diplo
matic resolution had resulted in the
XYZ Affair, prompting Congress to approve funds for completion of the remaining three frigates: President,[12] Congress[13] and
Chesapeake.[14]

See also
History of the United States Navy

References
1. Allen, 1909, p.42
2. "Alliance" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a7/alliance-i.htm). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy
Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
3. Abbot 1896, Volume I Part I Chapter XV
4. "US Coast Guard A Historical Overview"(http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/h_USCGhistory.asp). United States
Coast Guard. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
5. Allen 1909, pp. 41, 42
6. Allen 1909, p. 42
7. "United States" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/u1/united_states.htm). DANFS. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
8. "Constellation" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c13/constellation-i.htm). DANFS. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
9. "Constitution" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c13/constitution.htm). DANFS. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
10. Allen 1909, p. 47
11. "Launching the New U.S. Navy"(https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/new-us-navy/navy-bill.html). National
Archives. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
12. "President" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p11/president-i.htm). DANFS. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
13. "Congress" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c12/congress-iii.htm). DANFS. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
14. "Chesapeake" (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c7/chesapeake-i.htm). DANFS. Retrieved 24 August 2009.

Bibliography
Allen, Gardner W. (1909). Our Naval War With France. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
OCLC 1202325.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naval_Act_of_1794&oldid=832280677
"

This page was last edited on 25 March 2018, at 00:10.

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