Answer:
he sent warships to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping
Explanation:
The First Barbary War started in 1801, when the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was first elected into office. The war was known as the Tripolitanian War and the Barbary Coast War, between the United States of America and Sweden against four states from North Africa, known as the Barbary States.
The British naval officers protected the American merchant ships when the US was a colonial territory of the British people. But when the U.S gained independence, the decided to provide similar protection by themselves. This protection is usually to prevent the activities of pirates that raided the American merchant ships on regular basis.
Yusuf Karamanli, the ruler of Tripoli, asked Thomas Jefferson to pay $225,000 as tribute, when the US president refused to do that, war was declared on them by the ruler of Tripoli. Jefferson sent series of warships as naval bombardments on Tripoli, and Yusuf Karamanli was forced to surrender and sign a peace treaty.
