Abe abandoned the custom of the dictatorship by Fudai daimyo (daimyo who had belonged to the Tokugawa group from before the Sekigawara war) and Hatamoto (direct retainers of the bakufu) centered on Shogun, recommended Nariaki TOKUGAWA, the lord of the Mito domain, to assume the coastal defense officer and made an inquiry about the matter to daimyo and Bakufu-yushi (officers of the bakufu), and informed the Imperial court of the arrival of Perry's fleet.
阿部は将軍を中心とした譜代大名・旗本らによる独裁体制の慣例を破り、水戸藩主徳川斉昭を海防参与に推戴し、諸大名・幕府有司への諮問、ペリー来航の朝廷通達を行った。