Jefferson had been subtly investigating how much the other countries gave “to purchase their peace.”32 No one wanted to tell him, he wrote to James Monroe, “yet from some glimmerings it appears to be very considerable”—somewhere between $100,000 and $300,000 a year.33 “Surely our people will not give this,” he continued.34 “Would it not be better to offer them an equal treaty? If they refuse, why not go to war with them?…We ought to begin a naval power, if we mean to carry on our own commerce. Can we begin it on a more honorable occasion or with a weaker foe?”
