On July 29, 1858, the Tokugawa shogunate entered into the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States. In Article 6 of that treaty, the shogunate acknowledged the consular jurisdiction of the U.S. in Japan. In Article 3 it opened Hyōgo port as a treaty port from January 1, 1863, agreeing to establish a fixed area (foreign settlement) to be loaned to foreigners to reside and conduct economic activity in. Before long, the shogunate signed similar treaties known as the Ansei Treaties with the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France. However, these treaties were unable to gain the approval of an imperial edict, and after negotiations with the foreign powers the opening of the port was delayed for five years, until January 1, 1868. The court expressed disapproval for the opening of a port so close to the imperial palace in Kyoto, and even after the Ansei Treaties were approved by imperial edict on December 22, 1865, approval for the port was still not granted. On June 26, 1867, when the treaty port's scheduled opening was six months away, an imperial edict finally acknowledged its establishment.