The origin of Peace Societies may be traced to the publication in 1809 of a tract entitled, “The Mediator’s Kingdom, not of this world, but Spiritual,” by David Low Dodge, a citizen and merchant of New York City. These societies were an organized religious movement as a protest against war as inconsistent with the teachings of the New Testament. “In 815, the following Peace Societies were created in the United States: The New York Peace Society, the first of its kind, organized as has been seen by Mr. David Low Dodge in August; the Ohio Peace Society, founded on December 2nd; the Massachusetts Society founded December 26th, by the Reverend Noah Worcester, D.D., author of the tract entitled ‘A Solemn Review of the Custom of War,’ which appears to have converted Mr. Ladd to the ways of peace.”
Source: WIlliam Ladd, Sometime of Minot, Maine: THE APOSTLE OF PEACE 1778-1841. By George C. Wing, Jr. Ladd Digging Ground. Rootsweb Homepages.
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