The Morning Star pirates were part of a generation of sea-raiders who trained in the Caribbean in the early nineteenth century. Of course, the famous pirates of the Golden Age of Caribbean piracy had long ago died out. Their exploitation of the constant state of flux over Dutch, British and French ownership of the various islands of the Caribbean had allowed them to operate with impunity until around 1723, when the three powers began to strengthen their control of the region and laws surrounding piracy. By the nineteenth century, this stronger geopolitical hold over their colonial assets in the Caribbean deterred Dutch, British and French sea-raiders from engaging in piracy there. However, Spain's hold on its colonial assets rapidly deteriorated after the Peninsular War. This meant most nineteenth-century pirates of the Caribbean began their raiding careers as privateers connected to rebellious bids for independence by Spanish American colonies.

The word ‘privateer’ was coined around 1660 to describe the already centuries-old practice of sovereigns and rulers authorising individuals to raid enemy ships on their behalf. Until the mid-nineteenth century, sea-raiding was an important revenue raiser for maintaining power across the world during wartime. It was not just a European practice. Local rulers in the East Indies, at the major trading posts of Tangiers, Algiers and Tunis in North Africa, in the South China Sea, and in the Persian Gulf, among many other seafaring regions, authorised their subjects to engage in raiding the ships of their enemies. As a result, most European merchant ships trading in these regions carried arms for self-protection, even in peacetime.

To avoid accusations of piracy, privateers required evidence of the legitimacy of their raiding. In Europe and European colonies, this took the form of a written commission known as a letter of marque. When a ruler declared war on another ruler, private individuals sought out commissions from their ruler or the ruler's representatives to attack the enemy's shipping on the ruler's behalf for the duration of the war. It was not always necessary for the privateer to be the subject of the authorising ruler. If laws did not prohibit it, anyone with a suitable ship and the ability to muster a crew could obtain a sea-raiding commission.