The `` Constitution '' was built in the North End of Boston , Massachusetts , at Edmund Hartt 's shipyard . Her first duties with the newly formed U.S. Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War .
Built in Boston , Massachusetts , at Edmund Hartt 's shipyard , her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War .