The chief councillor to the head of the feudal fief of Tosa, in 1867 Gotō persuaded his lord to pressure the shogun, or feudal military dictator of Japan, to resign his office. The shogun complied, but it soon became clear that radicals from other fiefs would accept nothing less than a total alteration in the existing power structure. Gotō then joined the rebels, assuring the success of the projected coup. Whereas he and most other rebel leaders had previously advocated the expulsion of all foreigners from Japan, Gotō, as a leader in the new government, became a forceful exponent of the adoption of Western ways.

Piqued at the lack of Tosa men in the administration, Gotō resigned and helped found the Aikoku Kōtō (Public Party of Patriots), an independent political club advocating the introduction of popular participation in the government. In 1881 he cofounded the first Japanese political party, the Jiyūtō (Liberal Party), based on Rousseauist democratic doctrines. After the movement was discontinued briefly, Gotō reorganized it as a league calling for revision of Japan's treaties with the West. Upon the promulgation of the constitution and co-optation of the party leaders, he joined the government in March 1889 as communications minister.