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The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, also known as the Harris Treaty after US Consul [[Townsend Harris]], was the first treaty signed between Japan and any of the Western powers to establish formal diplomatic relations in the modern/Western sense.  

The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, also known as the Harris Treaty after US Consul [[Townsend Harris]], was the first treaty signed between Japan and any of the Western powers to establish formal diplomatic relations in the modern/Western sense.  

It came on the heels of the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] signed with [[Commodore Matthew Perry]] in [[1854]], similar conventions signed with the [[Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854|British]] and the [[Treaty of Shimoda|Russians]], and a formal commercial treaty with the Dutch. Signed on [[1858]]/6/19 (July 29) by Harris and representatives of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] aboard the [[USS Powhatan|USS ''Powhatan'']] anchored in [[Edo]] Bay, the treaty provided for the exchange of consuls, the opening of a number of ports, and certain freedoms and protections for Americans resident in Japan, among other provisions.

It came on the heels of the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] signed with [[Commodore Matthew Perry]] in [[1854]], similar conventions signed with the [[Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854|British]] and the [[Treaty of Shimoda|Russians]], and a formal commercial treaty with the Dutch. Signed on [[1858]]/6/19 (July 29) by Harris and representatives of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] aboard the [[USS Powhatan|USS ''Powhatan'']] anchored in [[Edo]] Bay, the treaty provided for the exchange of consuls, the opening of a number of ports, and certain freedoms and protections for Americans resident in Japan, among other provisions. Some scholars place particular emphasis on the fact that ''[[Tairo|Tairô]]'' [[Ii Naosuke]] ordered the Treaty to be signed without first consulting with the Imperial Court.<ref>Marco Tinello, "The termination of the Ryukyuan embassies to Edo : an investigation of the bakumatsu period through the lens of a tripartite power relationship and its world," PhD thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia (2014), 247.</ref> This caused resentment or anger among certain factions, but as the Tokugawa shogunate still ruled at that time, Ii was well within his rights, as the topmost official beneath the shogun, to make such a decision.

As with other treaties of this time, copies were produced in the English, Japanese, and Dutch languages; however, where the Japanese had previously insisted on the Chinese or Japanese version being the official wording to follow, here it was the Dutch version that was to be considered the original. The Harris Treaty also differed importantly from earlier treaties and conventions in that it was signed by the shogun himself, making it the first treaty to mark the beginning of formal diplomatic relations; prior to this, the shogunate had insisted that no one higher than the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' would sign such agreements, and that in doing so, the shogunate was adhering to its policies of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]], and was not entering into formal diplomatic relations with any new diplomatic partners.

As with other treaties of this time, copies were produced in the English, Japanese, and Dutch languages; however, where the Japanese had previously insisted on the Chinese or Japanese version being the official wording to follow, here it was the Dutch version that was to be considered the original. The Harris Treaty also differed importantly from earlier treaties and conventions in that it was signed by the shogun himself, making it the first treaty to mark the beginning of formal diplomatic relations; prior to this, the shogunate had insisted that no one higher than the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' would sign such agreements, and that in doing so, the shogunate was adhering to its policies of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]], and was not entering into formal diplomatic relations with any new diplomatic partners.