Founding Fathers' Fascination with Mysore's Muslim Rulers

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams closely followed the struggles of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, the Muslim rulers of Mysore (now Mysuru), against the British East India Company from the mid-18th to early 19th century. Hyder Ali became Sultan in the 1760s, allying with France against British expansion, and died in 1782, a year before American victory in the Revolutionary War. His son Tipu Sultan, known as "the Tiger of Mysore," commissioned an automaton of a tiger mauling a British soldier and died in battle in 1799. American newspapers, poems, and conversation referenced Mysore's rulers, but solidarity faded after the U.S. made peace with Britain and later supported the British Empire, including in India. A PBS Origins video details this history.