What would you think?
You go through the pages and there is a photo of a steel ship. Its hull was black steel, its length was 70 meters, it had multiple masts, a central chimney spewing steam, and cannons. A caption says they were called “Black Ships.” You read more and find out the cannons were fired in the bay to intimidate the regime.
You pretend that this was the first time you saw a ship like this let alone two! You only had wood ships with single sails, but these ships could bombard your coastline installations. And they were manned by foreigners. What would you think? How would you feel?
You read to learn more and take some notes.
Fear of Subjugation
In the summer of 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry led four American ships into Edo (Tokyo) Bay. He carried a letter from President Fillmore to the Emperor requesting trade and diplomatic relations. A year later, he returned.
After extensive negotiations with the Tokugawa Shogunate, a treaty for relations–but not trade–was finalized. There was an open threat to outright refusal. The steam and steel technology of the US was far ahead of Japan’s. Japan had no physical means to repel any act of war if there had been one.
News of the “black ships” spread fear of subjugation across Japan. The cry “Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians” gathered in the rural areas. This pressure mounted to oust the Tokugawa Shogunate that had unified and then ruled Japan for more than two hundred years.
In an instant, Commodore Perry’s move had broken the Shogunate’s official, strictly enforced policy of sakoku. This “closed country” policy prevented any Japanese from leaving and any Catholic national from entering. All trade to be conducted through the port of Nagasaki. Foreigners were expelled. Christianity was forbidden and severely punished.