 In September 1855, he was forced to resign his post, and was replaced by Hotta Masayoshi in October.Despite his resignation as "rōjū shuza", Abe remained as one of the "rōjū" and continued to have significant influence for the rest of his life.Despite the precarious state of finances in Fukuyama Domain, he built a domain academy to teach Western sciences and to modernize his military.