We had a conference with the Ambassador of Tripoli at his house. The amount of all the information we can obtain from him was that perpetual peace was in all respects the most advisable, because a temporary treaty would leave room for increasing demands upon every renewal of it, and a stipulation for annual payments would be liable to failures of performance which would renew the war, repeat the negotiations and continually augment the claims of his nation and the difference in expense would by no means be adequate to the inconvenience.
We took the liberty to make some inquiries concerning the grounds of their pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation.
The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Muslim who should be slain in battle was sure to go to paradise.
We took the time to consider and promised an answer, but we can give him no other, than that the demands exceed our expectations, and that of Congress, so much that we can proceed no further without fresh instructions.
This report can be found in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson - Volume 9, published by the Princeton University Press. Jefferson was sent to Europe following the end of the Revolutionary War to negotiate treaties with all the foreign powers. This letter gives the status of negotiations with the Barbary States off the coast of North Africa. These states housed Islamic pirates who would seize merchant vessels in the Mediterranean and enslave the crew. Nations would be expected to pay the host countries protection money to restrain these pirates.