BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Archives -- Case: Treaty of Kanagawa

DC -- Natl Archives -- Case: Treaty of Kanagawa:

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Description of Pictures: The Treaty of Kanagawa. Signed in 1854, the treaty between the United States and Japan opened the formerly closed society to western influence. The Japanese had been shocked by the site of the large battleships of Commodore Matthew C. Perry who arrived in Tokyo Harbor on July 8, 1853. Under force of attack, the Japanese agreed to open up to western commerce. The shock of this foreign invasion caused a new government to be installed in 1868. Emperor Meiji was committed to the modernization of Japan. The eventual result of this would be Japan's involvement in World War II just as Reagan's actions in Afghanistan against the Russians eventually led the Al Queda and September 11.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] ARCHTG_040419_02.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[2] ARCHTG_040419_12.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[3] ARCHTG_040419_20.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[4] ARCHTG_040419_27.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[5] ARCHTG_040419_34.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[6] ARCHTG_040419_51.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[7] ARCHTG_040419_55.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. ARCHTG_040419_02.JPG: Making it Official The concept of "advice and consent" by the U.S. Senate was inexplicable to the Japanese. They could not understand how Commodore Perry could be authorized to negotiate a Treaty, but not to make it binding. In the end, the Japanese did provide a document giving Prince Ido of Tsushima full power to exchange ratifications. After the U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty, President Pierce made an official proclamation on June 22, 1855. President Pierce's Proclamation of the Treaty, June 22, 1855.
2. ARCHTG_040419_12.JPG: Accepting an "Unequal" Treaty Perry's arrival caused widespread panic in Japan. The city of Edo (Tokyo) was very vulnerable because it depended on sea supply for its food. The "Black Ships" (the Japanese noted the columns of smoke pouring from the steamships) represented an unexpected technological advance. The ships carried more armament than all of Edo's (Tokyo's) coastal defenses, which had been neglected during two centuries of peace. Moreover, the ships could use steam power to overcome wind and tide. In the face of this threat, the Shogun's representatives agreed to a final treaty that it deemed "unequal" in that it granted the United States rights while giving no comparable rights to Japan. The Shogun's government signed it satisfied that it had avoided a full, permanent trade agreement and war. In making the decision to agree, however, the government took the unprecedented and humiliating step of asking the opinion of the Imperial Court and the regional lords, strengthening those institutions and weakening the Shogun. The Japanese government's copies of the Treaty of Kanagawa were destroyed in a fire in Edo Castle in 1859. This is the only Japanese language original in existence. Instrument of Ratification of the Treaty of Kanagawa, in Japanese, 1855
3. ARCHTG_040419_20.JPG: The Mission With the extension of the American border to the Pacific at the end of the Mexican War, policymakers, like President Millard Fillmore and Secretary of State Daniel Webster, looked to Asia as the next logical expression of America's "manifest destiny." European powers were already contending over control of Chinese ports. The United States did not wish to be excluded from this arena. Though trade with Japan was considered desirable, the drive to open Japan was truly focused on access to the strategic resources of oil and coal. Japan was nominally ruled by an Emperor, but real power had long since passed to the Tokugawa family which held the hereditary title of Shogun (whose full title means "barbarian-subdoing general"). The Tokugawa governments had maintained a policy of "sakoku" or "closed country" since the earth 17th century. Virtually all trade and travel abroad was prohibited. Only the Dutch were granted a small island outpost in Nagasaki Harbor to conduct limited trade. The purpose of the policy was to eliminate missionary interference and the potential corrupting influence of contact with foreigners, especially "Western barbarians." Failure to keep Westerners from violating Japan's seclusion policy was seen as a sign of weakness for the Shogun's government. Chronology of Mission to Open Japan 1844: The Dutch unsuccessfully seek relaxation of exclusion laws and warn the Japanese of America's future ambitions. 1846: Commodore James Biddle leads first official American mission to open Japan and failed to even get a meeting with senior Japanese officials. 1849: Captain James Glynn leads second American mission, securing the release of captured American seamen, but no agreement. June 10, 1851: Secretary of State Daniel Webster sends instructions to Commodore J.A. Aulick of the East India Squadron to lead an expedition to Japan for purposes of securing a treaty to provide coaling ports, protect shipwrecked whalers, and establish trade. January 22, 1852: Following Aulick's personal scandal, Commodore Matthew C. Perry reluctantly accepted command of the mission. He spends months studying Japan and meticulously organizing the logistics of the voyage. November 24, 1852: Perry sails out of Norfolk, VA, on the Mississippi bound for China, by way of Madeira, St. Helena, Cape Town, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. April 6, 1853: Perry arrives in Hong Kong and is joined by other ships of the East India Squadron. July 8, 1853: Perry's squadron of four "black ships" enters Edo (Tokyo) Bay to deliver a letter to the Emperor requesting a treaty. July 17, 1853: Perry leaves for Hong Kong promising to return in the spring for negotiations. January 15 1854: Hearing that the Russian and French may already have missions on their way to Japan, Perry changes his timetables and risks a dangerous winter voyage back to Japan. This time he brings nine ships. February 13, 1854: Perry arrives back in Japanese waters and reaches a compromise with Japanese officials to hastily build the Treaty House in the village of Kanagawa (today park of Yokohama) the site for negotiations. March 8-31, 1954: Perry negotiates with Japanese commissioners led by Prince Ido of Tsushima. March 31, 1854: Treaty of Kanagawa is signed.
4. ARCHTG_040419_27.JPG: How the west saw it: the title is "U.S. Japan Fleet, Cmdr Perry, carrying the "Gospel of God" to the Heathens, 1853.
5. ARCHTG_040419_34.JPG: How the east saw it
6. ARCHTG_040419_51.JPG: After The Treaty. Both American and Japanese negotiators told their respective governments that all of their major goals had been achieved and that their compromises were of little consequence. Within two years, the British, French, Russian, and Dutch governments had concluded their own "unequal" treaties with Japan. U.S. Consul Townshend Harris became America's first diplomatic representatives to Japan in August 1856. Commodore Perry, in poor health, gave up his command of the East India Squadron in July 1854 and returned to New York. He died on March 4, 1858, just two days after Harris had secured agreement to the final objective of Perry's mission, a commercial treaty. The "unequal" treaties fueled the efforts of regional lords to first question and later openly rebel against the Tokugawa Shogun. A new government installed under the Emperor Meiji in 1868 committed itself to the modernization of Japan and the revision of the unequal terms of the treaties. The Treaty of Kanagawa reveals the seeds of tensions and conflicts that figure prominently in the first century of the Japanese-American relationship. Yet the Treaty also establishes the basis of today's peaceful strategic alliance that has lasted for more than 50 years. The very fact that two nations, two cultures, two different world views could come together with swords and funs and leave with sheets of paper promising "a perfect, permanent and universal peace" speaks to the ultimate civility of both America and Japan.
7. ARCHTG_040419_55.JPG: Japanese rendering of Cmdr Perry. Perry had blue eyes but they painted the whites around his eyes blue instead.
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2004 photos: Equipment this year: I bought two Fujifilm S7000 digital cameras. While they produced excellent images, I found all of the retractable-lens Fuji models had a disturbing tendency to get dust inside the lens. Dark blurs would show up on the images and the camera had to be sent back to the shop in order to get it fixed. I returned one of the cameras when the blurs showed up in the first month. I found myself buying extended warranties on cameras. Trips this year: (1) Margot and I went off to Scotland for a few days, my first time overseas. (2) I went to Hawaii on business (such a deal!) and extended it, spending a week in Hawaii and another in California. (3) I went to Tennessee to man a booth and extended it to go to my third Fan Fair country music festival. Number of photos taken this year: 110,000.
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