![]() ![]() As naval blockades took shape in northern and western Europe, Washington, still neutral, rushed to assert the rights of U.S.-flagged ships in international waters. When World War I began, in the summer of 1914, it put a serious strain on the maintenance of the doctrine of the freedom of the seas. This determination would again be put to the test in the second decade of the 20th century. ![]() As a precedent, therefore, the United States had clearly demonstrated its willingness to fight to maintain the freedom of the seas. As an extension of these assertions, the young republic fought three wars (two of them undeclared) in the period 1801–1814. ![]() Presidents from John Adams to James Madison relied on the doctrine of the freedom of the seas to assert the right of U.S.-flagged ships to ply the world’s oceans unencumbered. Early in its history, the United States saw its right to the freedom of the seas directly challenged by the privateers of revolutionary France, the corsairs of the North African Barbary states, and the frigates of the Royal Navy. ![]()
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