1815-1828 - First incarnation of the New York Peace Society. "The first peace society to be established in the USA. David Low Dodge [1774-1852] founds the society in 1815, soon after the end of the War of 1812. It became an active organization, holding regular weekly meetings & producing literature which is spread as far as Gibraltar & Malta, describing the horrors of war & advocating pacificism on Christian grounds. The society will have four different incarnations, as it has merged into other organizations or dissolved & then been re-created." See 1828 below.

1815 - New York, New York (USA). "Élie Ducommun credited the establishment of the first Peace Society in New York in 1815, and the concept quickly spread to Europe." David Low Dodge [1774-1852] founded the New York Peace Society in 1815, soon after the end of the War of 1812 [1812-15]. It became an active organization, holding regular weekly meetings, and producing literature which was spread as far as Gibraltar & Malta, describing the horrors of war & advocating pacificism on Christian grounds. In 1828, the New York society merged with others in New Hampshire, Maine & Massachusetts to form the American Peace Society.
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 1911-1948 - American Peace Society House, 734 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, DC (USA). A Late Victorian 3-story brick house with a hexagonal bay that was the headquarters of the American Peace Society from 1911 to 1948. Constructed in 1878 for financier & philanthropist Charles C. Glover [1846-1936]. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Included in the Lafayette Square Historic District. Currently used as offices for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The American Peace Society was founded in 1828 and moved to Washington from Boston in 1911. What happened in 1948? (Stephen Norman [1918-1946], last descendant of Theodor Herzl [1860-1904], jumped off the Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge three weeks after learning that his parents had died in the Holocaust.)

June 14, 1816 - London (England). Society for the Promotion of Permanent & Universal Peace -- better known as the London Peace Society, the Peace Society or the International Peace Society -- is founded by Quaker William Allen [1770-1843] & Rev. Thomas Harper.


October 1-November, 1818 - Congress of Aix-la-Chappelle, Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). "Primarily a meeting of the four allied powers - Britain, Austria, Prussia & Russia - to decide the question of the withdrawal of the army of occupation from France & the nature of the modifications to be introduced in consequence into the relations of the four powers towards each other, and collectively towards France. This was the third conference to bear that name; the first took place in 1668, the second in 1748." Image shows conference memorial in Aachen.

1819 - Congress of Carlsbad, Carlsbad, Bohemia (Czech Republic). Resulted in a set of reactionary restrictions introduced in the states of the German Confederation by resolution of the Bundesversammlung on 20 September 1819. They banned nationalist fraternities (Burschenschaften), removed liberal university professors & expanded the censorship of the press. /// Image is a contemporary lithograph mocking the new restrictions on the press & free expression imposed by the Carlsbad Decrees. The sign on the wall behind the table reads: "Important question to be considered in today's meeting: 'How long will we be allowed to think?'"

1820 - "In France, the early pacifist movements were initially based either on moral considerations, as in the case of the Société de la Morale chrétienne, founded in 1820, or on the theories of Utopian socialism put forward by Henri de Saint-Simon [1760-1825] and Charles Fourier [1772-1837]." [André Durand, 1996]

1820 - Temple de l'amité et de la paix / Temple of Friendship & Peace, United Nations, Geneva (Switzerland). Built by Count Jean-Jaques de Sellon [1782-1839] on his estate La Fenêtre (which now belongs to the United Nations). Destroyed during a storm in 1946, but its stones remain in storage (as shown in lower image).
October 20, 1822 - Congress of Verona, Verona (Italy). Part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the close of the Napoleonic Wars. Attended by members of the Quintuple Alliance - Russia, Austria, Prussia, France & United Kingdom. /// Image is a satirical drawing of the congress.

December 15, 1823 - "William Ladd [1778-1841] begins the Peace Society of Minot, Town of Minot, Maine (USA). The first meeting is held at the local blacksmith shop at Minot Corner. Ladd will eventually organize five additional peace societies, and in 1826 will initiate the thought to turn the peace society into a national organization. On May 8, 1828, the American Peace Society is formed in Boston, Masssachusetts. From 1911 to 1948, the American Peace Society headquarters will be located near the White House in Washington, DC. In 1974 the building was declared a historic landmark." [NB: Population of Minot was 2,607 in the census of 2010. Image shows backsmith shop in West Minot, c.1900.]

1828-1844 - Second & third incarnations of the New York Peace Society (1837-1844). On May 8, 1828, the society merges with others in New Hampshire, Maine & Massachusetts to form the American Peace Society. The society will be re-formed as an independent organization in 1837. Until 1844, it sought to prevent war against Mexico by advocating negotiation. It then dissolved. An attempt was made to re-create it, but this was short-lived." See 1906 below.

July 21, 1928 - William Ladd Boulder, Center Minot Congregational Church, Minot, Maine (USA). Monument created for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Peace Society & the 150th anniversary of William Ladd’s birth. Rests on granite from every state in New England, as well as stones from 14 other countries." Inscription on plaque: "In honor of William Ladd, the Apostle of Peace, born May 10, 1778, died April 7, 1841. Organizer and founder of the American Peace Society one hundred years ago. Citizen and resident of Minot, Maine, author of 'An Essay on a Congress of Nations' [1840], an outstanding contribution to world peace. This tablet erected July 21, 1928, in response to a joint resolution of the 83rd legislature of the State of Maine authorizing a commemoration of the memory and services of William Ladd. Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God."