List of the first seven United States Ambassadors Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Japan:
Townsend Harris Jan. 19, 1859 Nov. 5, 1859 Presented recall, April 26,
1862
Robert H. Pruyn Oct. 12, 1861 - Recommissioned after confirmation
Jan. 22, 1862 May 17, 1862 Left Japan April 28, 1865
Chaubcey M. Depewl Nov. 15, 1865 - -
Robert B. Van Valkenburgh Jan. 18, 1866 May 4, 1867 Presented
recall, Nov. 11, 1869
Charles E. De Long April 21, 1869 Nov. 11, 1869 Promoted to EE/MP
July 14, 1870 June 9, 1872 Had Farewell Audience, Oct. 7, 1873
John A. Bingham May 31, 1873 Oct. 7, 1873 Recommissioned after
confirmation
Richard B. Hubbard April 2, 1885 July 2, 1885 Presented recall,
May 15, 1889
The absence of an ambassador does not mean that there was no embassy
functioning at that time. Chiefs of Mission filled in during periods when no
ambassador was appointed or accredited.
The Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series presents the
official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy
decisions and significant diplomatic activity. If you want to know what the
United States was doing in Japan and how it viewed Japan, this is the place
to go. Volumes appeared in various editions and under varying titles until
1870, when the series became known as Papers Relating to the Foreign
Relations of the United States. All volumes through 1951 are no longer in
print at the Government Printing Office, but they may be available in print
or microform from publishing clearinghouses or commercial reprinting firms.
In addition, the Foreign Relations series is in most Federal Depository
Libraries and major university libraries. Volumes which may contain material
vis a vis Japan during the period in question are as follows:
1861-1865, Abraham Lincoln
1861 (1861)
1862, Part I (1862); Part II (1862)
1863, Part I (1864); Part II (1864)
1864, Part I (1865); Part II (1865); Part III (1865); Part IV (1865)
1865-1869, Andrew Johnson
1865
Part I (1866)
Part II (1866)
Part III (1866)
Part IV, Appendix: The assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the attempted
assassination of William H. Seward and Frederick W. Seward (1866)
1866, Part I (1867); Part II (1867); Part III (1867)
1867, Part I (1868); Part II (1868)
1868, Part I (1869); Part II (1869)
1869-1877, Ulysses S. Grant
1869 (Although no official volume appeared for this year, certain diplomatic
correspondence was published in House and Senate Executive Documents of the
41st Congress, second session.)
1870 (1870)
1871 (1871)
1872
Part I (1873)
Part II (vols. I-III): Geneva Arbitration (1872); (vol. IV): Geneva
Arbitration (1873); (vol. V): Berlin Arbitration (1872)
1873
Part I (vols.I-II) (1873)
Part II (vol. III): Papers relating to the American and British Joint Claims
Commission (1874)
1874 (1874)
1875
vol. I (1875)
vol. II (1875)
1876 (1876)
1877-1881, Rutherford B. Hayes
1877 (1877); Appendix; Correspondence relative to the Improvement of
Commercial Intercourse between the United States and Foreign Countries
(1877)
1878 (1878)
1879 (1879)
1880 (1880)
1881, James A. Garfield
1881 (1882)
1881-1885, Chester A. Arthur
1882 (1883)
1883 (1884)
1884 (1885)
Many of these documents may be found in the University of Wisconsin online
collection:
<
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=browse&scope=FR
US.FRUS1>
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=browse&scope=FRU
S.FRUS1
Good luck and good hunting,
Robert
_____
DuaneS wrote:
I am assuming that the American interest in Japan faded after the American
Civil War began. However, when the Samurai revolt (probably not the correct
way of stating it) began in 1871(?), which Tom Cruise played the part of a
Yankee soldier (The Last Samurai) sent to help the ruling family change the
method of fighting, criticism of the movie was mostly about the Americans
not being involved but the Portugese and Germans. Was their ever any attempt
to have the Americans assist in the training? Did the United States have any
type of consul or ambassador in Japan during this period?
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