Home > History Fact Finder > War and Conflict: Pre-Twentieth Century - What Was Privateering?

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

What was privateering?

Privateering was the way countries acquired ships and crews to fight sea battles before the development of navies. Under this arrangement, a national government would hire a privately owned ship and its crew to engage in a campaign against an enemy at sea. The practice began in the 1400s and continued into the 1800s, when it was eventually replaced by strong navies. Privateers were, essentially, gunboats for hire. They played a crucial role in the American Revolution (1775–83), the conflict in which the American colonies gained independence from Britain. The Second Continental Congress, the government formed by the American colonists, authorized the use of privateers on March 18, 1776. This act enabled the colonists to capture about six hundred British ships in the Atlantic Ocean. Americans again employed privateers in the War of 1812 (1812–15; a conflict between the United States and Great Britain)....

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. European Conflicts
   1. What was the Trojan War, and what did a horse have to do with it?
   2. What was the Peloponnesian War?
   3. Why was the Macedonian king Alexander known as "the Great"?
   4. How were the Romans able to conquer Greece?
   5. What were the Punic Wars?
   6. If the Roman Empire was so powerful, why did it fall?
   7. What was the Norman Conquest?
   8. What was the Hundred Years' War?
   9. Who was Joan of Arc?
   10. What were the Hussite Wars?
   11. What was the Peasants' War?
   12. What was the Gunpowder Plot?
   13. What was the Defenestration of Prague?
   14. What was the Peace of Westphalia?
   15. What was the Great Northern War?
   16. What was the Seven Years' War?
   17. What was the Oath of the Tennis Court?
   18. What was the Reign of Terror?
   19. What was the French revolutionary calendar?
   20. How long did the French Revolution last?
   21. What was the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire?
   22. When did the Napoleonic Wars begin and end?
   23. Why did Russian czar Alexander I order the burning of Moscow?
   24. What was the London Protocol?
   25. What was the Crimean War?
   26. What is the Treaty of Paris?
2. American Conflicts
   1. How did Great Britain come to control so much of North America?
   2. What was the French and Indian War?
   3. What was the Boston Tea Party?
   4. Who were Paul Revere and the minutemen?
   5. Why was the Battle of Bunker Hill an important event in the American Revolution?
   6. Was France an ally of the American colonists in their war against Great Britain?
   7. Did all American Revolution battles take place in the Northeast?
   8. What was the Battle of Tippecanoe?
   9. Who were the War Hawks?
   10. Who said, "We have met the enemy and they are ours"?
   11. What does "Remember the Alamo" mean?
   12. Why was the Mexican War fought?
   13. What did the United States gain from the Mexican War?
   14. What was the War of Reform?
   15. What was privateering?
   16. What did "Fifty-four forty or fight" mean?
   17. Was the Civil War fought to abolish slavery?
   18. How did the American Civil War begin and how did it end?
   19. What were the Union and the Confederacy?
   20. Who was Andrew Johnson, and why did he vow to burn Nashville?
   21. What was the significance of the Battle of Gettysburg?
   22. What was the Sioux uprising?
   23. What was "Custer's last stand"?
   24. Why was the Spanish-American War fought?
   25. What happened to the Philippines after the islands were given up to the United States?
3. Asian And African Conflicts
   1. What was the First Sino-Japanese War?
   2. What was the Boer War?

1. Peloponnesian War