ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a brief background on the state of freedom of the seas discourse in Europe before the American Revolution. This starts with a brief overview of Hugo Grotius and John Selden's “book war” over maritime territorialities and its implications for international maritime trade. This chapter then provides an overview of how major European naval powers influenced the notion of freedom of the seas through their assertions of belligerent rights to attack trade, in opposition to the rights of neutral states to continue to trade during times of war. This chapter aims to present the state of freedom of the seas discourse in international society at the time of the creation of the United States.
