American Expansion into the Pacific (ME) Christian Campbell

           In the 1800s, Americans started to look over seas for new markets and naturally tended to go towards the Pacific.

Perry opens Japan

            United States believed they would benefit from the trade with Japan, however, Japan’s rulers believed that too much contact with the West would change their culture and they only allowed the Chinese and the Dutch to trade with them. In 1852, President Millard Fillmore ordered commodore Matthew C. Perry to take a naval expedition to negotiate a trade treaty with Japan after receiving several petitions from Congress.

            On July 8, 1853, four American warships that were under Perry’s command entered Edo Bay (Today known as Tokyo Bay). Impressed with American technology and firepower, the Japanese couldn’t resist and agreed to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa. Thanks to the trade treaty, there was peace between the U.S. and Japan, and any U.S. ships were allowed to buy supplies in Japanese ports.

            Japan decided to change their society and adopted Western technology and launched their own Industrial Revolution because of the trade treaty. By the 1890s, the Japanese had a powerful navy and begun building an empire in Asia.