With the preliminary peace treaty signed with England in November of 1782, American merchants, led by Robert Morris, the revolution’s financier, began planning for something they had never been allowed to do: conduct direct trade with China.
The group hired a privateer and renamed his ship the Empress of China. With a crew of 34, the ship’s cargo hold was filled with lead, camel cloth, cotton, animal skins, barrels of pepper, and 30 tons of ginseng, an herb the Chinese valued for its healing properties. The ship also carried $18,000 in silver coins―the primary metal used in China’s monetary system.
On Feb. 22, 1784, the ship sailed 18,000 miles from New York, around the southern tip of Africa and arrived in Canton (Guangzhou), China on Aug. 28. The introduction and ensuing trade negotiations, led by Samuel Shaw, a Boston businessman, were a success. The ship returned to New York with tea, fine china, silks, and gunpowder. As a reward for his successful undertaking, Shaw was made the first American representative to China in 1786.
The Restriction of Japan
Nearly 200 years before the Empress of China set sail, the Warring States Period in Japan ended, resulting in the eventual unification of Japan under the Shogunate. Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) were known as the “Three Unifiers.” Their unification methods were repressive to both the Japanese and foreigners.A central aspect of the unification was its policy of isolationism, which included anti-Christian and anti-Western edicts. Hideyoshi established the first anti-Christian edict in 1587, expelling missionaries and limiting church activities. A decade later, Hideyoshi had six missionaries and 20 Japanese Christians executed. In 1612, under what was known as the Edo Shogunate, a new edict called for the destruction of all churches and the end of the propagation of Christianity.
A Man for the Job
In 1809, at the age of 14, he was appointed midshipman on the schooner Revenge, which was under the command of his brother, Oliver Hazard Perry. He fought during the War of 1812 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1813. He commanded his first ship, the schooner Shark, from May 1821 to September 1823. In March 1826, Perry was promoted to master commandant, then to captain 11 years later. He was a strong advocate for steam power and was given command of the Fulton, the Navy’s first steam warship.
In his early captaincy, he established the Naval Engineer Corps. In 1841, he was appointed as commandant of the Navy Yard in New York where he administered his steamship expertise for naval inventions. Perry is often called the Father of the Steam Navy.
Perry was a commander who cared deeply about his men, but this did not counter his disciplinarian mentality. In other words, Perry ran a very tight ship.
As a midshipman and lieutenant, he had already seen military action. When the Mexican-American War broke out, Perry was called to engage. He served under Commodore David Conner, who was commander of the Home Squadron. Shortly after Conner oversaw the successful amphibious invasions of Mexico and the March 1847 landing of the Army at Vera Cruz, he was recalled. The command of the force went to Perry.
An Expeditionary Opportunity
In November 1848, Perry used his expertise in steamers to oversee a new project that combined efforts of private citizens and the U.S. Navy: the Ocean Mail Steamers. This project, as President James K. Polk stated, “promise[d] to realize all the benefits to our commerce and our Navy which were anticipated” and would increase and promote “our social and commercial intercourse” with “Germany, Great Britain, and other parts of Europe; [and] countries on the Pacific.”One country, however, proved uninterested in such social and commercial exchange. During the 1830s, the United States’s East India (or Far Eastern) Squadron, stationed in Canton had attempted several missions into Japan, but was never allowed to land. The squadron, lacking government authority, never forced the issue.
By 1851, Millard Fillmore was president of the United States, and he saw an opportunity to make a legitimate goodwill expedition to Japan. One reason for the expedition was to return shipwrecked Japanese sailors and pick up similarly situated American sailors (whalers). The mission was first given to Commodore John Aulick, commander of the East India Squadron. Internal disputes, however, resulted in Aulick being relieved of his post. In March 1852, Perry was given command and authorized to conduct the mission.
Reaching Japan
Sailing from China in May 1853, Perry and his squadron sought out the southern islands first, landing in the Ryukyus and the Bonin Islands. Perry purchased territory for the United States. He then sailed toward Edo (Tokyo) Bay armed with an official letter from Fillmore, but more importantly, with two frigates and two sloops-of-war. The president’s letter was addressed to the Emperor of Japan. Fillmore had no way of knowing that the emperor played only a figurative role in the government.When the squadron arrived in the bay on July 8, 1853, Perry ignored Japanese demands to sail to Nagasaki. Guard boats sailed toward the squadron, but were soon dispersed by the threat of force (likely more than a verbal threat). Perry further ordered his sailors to conduct soundings in the harbor, which was prohibited by the Japanese. Refusing to deal with minor officials, Perry demanded an onshore meeting with the Emperor.
He obtained the meeting when the frigates landed 400 sailors and marines on July 14, when he presented the emperor with the letter and other gifts: a telescope, a telegraph, wines and liquors, and a working model of a steam locomotive. After spending three days on land, Perry and the squadron returned to China, but not before promising to return to Japan to receive the answer to Fillmore’s request.
A Historic Return
In February of 1854, Perry returned to Tokyo Bay with an even larger squadron. The reception was far more cordial this time and gifts were exchanged. The two sides met to discuss the details of Fillmore’s request. It took over a month before both sides came to an agreement. It was during this week in history, on March 31, 1854, that the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed. The treaty agreed to protect the rights of stranded seamen and whalers, and opened two coaling ports in Hakodate and Shimoda for the U.S. Navy’s steamships.It was the first occidental treaty in more than 200 years, officially releasing Japan from its sakoku policy. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce (also called the Harris Treaty) was signed in 1858. Along with trading rights, the treaty allowed American Protestant missionaries to enter Japan. Intriguingly, the “hidden Christians” of Nagasaki announced in 1865 that they had never relinquished their faith. These Hidden Christian Sites in Nagasaki and Kumamoto are registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
