1854: Commodore Matthew Perry negotiated the Convention of Kanagawa, which effectively ended Japan's centuries of national isolation, opening the country to Western trade and diplomacy.[4] The U.S. later advanced the Open Door Policy in 1899 that guaranteed equal economic access to China and support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity.[5] 1871: The U.S. dispatched an expeditionary force to Korea after failed attempts to ascertain the fate of the armed merchant ship General Sherman, which was attacked during an unsuccessful attempt to open up trade with the isolationist kingdom in 1866. After being ambushed, the 650-man American expeditionary force launched a punitive campaign, capturing and occupying several Korean forts and killing over 200 Korean troops.[6]