[kenberg]

From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli...

As near as I can recall, neither of these battles were part of my high school, or elementary school, education. I checked with my wife, my daughters, my college age granddaughter and none of them recalled learning of this in high school.

The Louisiana purchase--1803. We all got that.
The War of 1812-- 1812, sort of. We all got that, along with the battle of New Orleans.
The First (and Second) Barbary War? Not that I can recall.

An interesting snippet from the Wikipedia: Congress authorized Jefferson to take military action against Tripoli without a formal declaration of war. I had thought this approach was a more recent innovation. (The police action in Korea, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution for Viet Nam, and lately the just go bomb them approach, the hell with declaring anything.)

Anyway, I ask: Did/do kids learn about this in school? I have no great axe that needs grinding here, I am curious both about current practice and whether my memories of high school are faulty.

We simply skipped the whole war with Mexico by the way. It's pretty hard to justify it, and I think the teacher just decided to save herself some hassle and not discuss it.

[hrothgar]

We learned about the Barbary Wars in American history class.

I suspect that this has much more to do with the popularity of "Old Ironsides" than perceptions about the importance of the war...

[blackshoe]

That may be, Richard, but she has a long and honorable history, and deserves the recognition.

I remember that we covered the Barbary and Mexican Wars in high school. "Not one cent for tribute!"

Yes, it was during Jefferson's administration that the principle was established that the President, as Commander in Chief, could use the armed forces to handle emergent problems without a formal declaration of war. Of course, at the time, we had no standing army (and still should not, imo, constitutionally, though in fact we do).