As a senior officer in the young American navy, Rodgers played a major role in the development of the standards, customs and traditions that emerged during this time.

[3] During his naval career he commanded a number of warships, including USS John Adams, the flagship of the fleet that defeated the Barbary states of North Africa.

Realizing Rodgers was determined to go to sea, his father helped arrange his apprenticeship with Captain Benjamin Folger, a master ship builder of Baltimore, and Revolutionary War veteran.

Rodgers' next voyage sent him to Hamburg, Germany, but due to severe conditions on the North Sea, he was forced to put up in England for the winter and did not reach his destination until spring of the next year.

Rodgers, along with Midshipman Porter and eleven seamen, boarded the badly-damaged L'Insurgente with the challenge of sailing her to a friendly port while also guarding more than 160 prisoners.

To make matters worse, just before surrendering their ship, the crew of L'Insurgente had thrown overboard the gratings to the hold along with handcuffs and other items used to secure prisoners.

After guarding the prisoners and navigating the captured vessel for two days and three nights through stormy winter weather, Rodgers arrived at Bassettere, the capital of the British colony of Saint Kitts, on February 13, 1799.

During this time he also pursued and boarded several neutral ships that were attempting to bring grain and other supplies to Tripoli, the inhabitants of which were facing starvation and other difficulties because of the blockade.

[22] When news of the treaty reached Washington D.C. in the fall of 1805, President Thomas Jefferson ordered all of the ships home with the exception of a frigate and two smaller supporting vessels.

He stopped to pay a visit to the Dey of Algiers, who had learned of the US treaty with Tripoli, and extended every courtesy to Rodgers, allowing him to be armed in his presence.

After the Embargo Act of 1807 against trade with the British Empire was passed by Congress at the close of 1807, Rodgers commanded operations along the Atlantic coast enforcing its provisions.

In 1810 Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton instructed Commodore Rodgers to oversee a series of tests or trials of inventor Robert Fulton's new naval torpedo.

Fulton, the successful inventor of the first commercially viable steamboat, Clermont, and the first practical submarine, Nautilus, was confident that his torpedo could sink a large naval vessel.

[25] Fearing that Congress might consider confining all American ships to port, as soon as Rodgers received news of the June declaration of war, he departed New York Harbor with his squadron within the hour.

In the early morning of June 23, a ship was spotted on the horizon to the north-east, which turned out to be the frigate HMS Belvidera, commanded by Captain Richard Byron.

Belvidera had already been informed of the inevitability of war by a passing New York pilot boat and immediately turned about, crowded on all sails and began flight to the north-east with a fresh wind behind all ships coming from the west.

He had already sent down the southeastern "Patapsco Neck" peninsula, Brigadier General John Stricker's regiments of the City Brigade at the Battle of North Point.

Rodgers helped defend against the simultaneous British naval attack on Fort McHenry protecting the harbor, and when Washington was invaded and occupied, the month before after the Battle of Bladensburg.

The Delaware squadron comprised some 20 gunboats, sloops and galleys, and was one among several fleets assigned to patrol the chief ports along the upper Atlantic coastline.

As Rodgers was at Reedy Island on the Delaware River inspecting his flotilla he did not receive the Secretary's orders until he returned at eleven o'clock that evening—-thirteen hours later.

Within twenty four hours, under the direct supervision of Admiral Cockburn, the British force set fire to the Capitol building, the White House, and other government structures.

[44] With American forces defeated and in retreat, President James Madison and Secretary Jones had fled the capital and made their way up the Potomac River to remain in hiding in the countryside.

Upon receiving orders to join Admiral Cockburn's squadron to the south, Gordon's flotilla sailed down river but was delayed due to adverse winds near Fort Washington.

[42][43] Other battles followed with the British attempting to mount counteroffensives on the Potomac and at Baltimore, but these were ultimately frustrated largely through the efforts of forces commanded by Rodgers and Porter.

However, most Britons felt it was justified retaliation for similar acts of destruction by American troops in Canada and because the United States had started the war.

One of the most important recommendations the BNC made during Rodgers tenure was that only Portsmouth and Boston Navy Yard were suitable for the building of large ships in all seasons.

These practices must cease – none must be employed but for the advantage of the public, & this Yard instead of rendering the navy odious to the nation from the scenes of want & extravagance which it has too long exhibited must serve as a model on which to prefect a general system of economy.

In making to you,- Sir, these remarks the Navy Commissioners are aware that you have with themselves long witnessed the evils of which they complain, & which every countenance will be given to assist you in remedying them, they calculate with confidence on a disposition on your part to forward the public interests.

He was the guest of two close friends, Admiral Sir James Stirling and Lady Hillyarm who were with the Mediterranean Fleet while Rodgers was serving there, dealing with the piracy of the Barbary states.

[55] Rodgers was buried in the family burial site in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington, his grave marked by a pyramidal shaped sandstone monument which also bears the names of his wife, Minerva Denison, his son Frederick, and two daughters who were also laid to rest there in later years.