When the Edo bakufu was overthrown in the Restoration of Imperial Rule (Japan), the Meiji government, mainly established by the domains of Satsuma and Choshu, took over the control over the diplomacy from the bakufu, and when the Meiji government was accepted by foreign countries as a legitimate government of Japan after the end of the Boshin War, it announced on February 4, 1869 that the it was necessary to revise the treaties in the future, pointing out that treaties concluded by the Edo bakufu without the admission of the Emperor had some problems.
江戸幕府が王政復古(日本)により倒れると、薩摩藩・長州藩を中心に成立した明治政府は幕府から外交権を引き継いだが、戊辰戦争の終結によって明治政府が日本の正統な政府であることが諸外国に認められると、1869年2月4日（明治元年12月23日_(旧暦)）に明治政府は江戸幕府が勅許を得ずに締結した条約には問題がある点を指摘し、将来的な条約改正の必要性を通知した。