Changes

First, Hay sought the approval of the British and Japanese Governments, both of which considered the American suggestion to be in their interests, although both conditioned their acceptance of the terms on the agreement of all the powers involved. France followed the British and Japanese example. This British, Japanese, and French endorsement of Hay’s suggestion pressured Germany and Russia to adhere to the terms of the note, although Russia did so with so many caveats that it practically negated the Note’s central principles. Nevertheless, Hay declared that all the powers had accepted the ideas with responses that were “final and definitive.”

In 1900, however, internal events in China threatened the idea of the Open Door. An anti-foreign movement known as the Boxer Rebellion, named for the martial artists that led the movement, gathered strength, and began attacking foreign missionaries and Chinese converts to Christianity. With the backing of Empress Dowager Cixi (Tz’u Hsi) and the Imperial Army, the Boxer Rebellion turned into a violent conflict that claimed the lives of hundreds of foreign missionaries and thousands of Chinese nationals. As the Boxers descended upon Beijing, foreign nationals living in that city—including embassy staff—clustered together in the besieged foreign legations, and called upon their home governments for assistance.