This research investigates the issue of political partisanship in the early American republic with reference to two captivity narratives produced by two author-captives William Ray and Dr. Jonathan Cowdery following the Tripolitan War of 1801-1805. Taking our bearings from historicist theory, we shall argue that the transfer of power following the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800 led to a change of American foreign policy with regard to the payment of tribute to the Barbary States, especially with the military build-up that had taken place during the Algerian-American crisis of 1785-1796 and the access of an anti-federalist to the Presidency. We shall also contend that Ray and Dr.Cowdery had deployed their captivity narratives as political platforms showing the political partisanship between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists as regards foreign and domestic policies.