[ValenB4]

I wouldn't exactly call them a threat to America. More like an annoyance. They weren't about to sail up the Delaware River and sack Philadelphia.

[sheltonmac]

They weren't about to sail up the Delaware River and sack Philadelphia.

Had the modern neocons existed back then, I'm sure they would have tried to frighten people with just such a possibility:

"Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof--the smoking gun--that could come in the form of a pirate galley sailing up the Delaware."

"Either you are with us, or you are with the pirates."