Universal Peace Union

The Universal Peace Union was a pacifist organization founded by former members of the American Peace Society^[1] in Providence, Rhode Island with the adoption of its constitution on 16 May 1866; it was chartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 9 April 1888.^[2] It ceased operations in 1913, shortly after the death of Alfred H. Love, who served as the organization's president from its founding.^[3] Other founders and officers included minister and reformer Adin Ballou,^[4] American Red Cross founder Clara Barton,^[5] politician and author Belva Ann Lockwood, reformer Lucretia Mott,^[6] Nobel Peace Prize winner Frédéric Passy,^[7] editor Mary L. F. Ormsby,^[8] and politician and educator John Wesley Hoyt.^[9] Ella B. Ensor Wilson served as president of the Wilsonton (Kansas) branch of the UPU.^[10]

The UPU's motto was: "Remove the causes and abolish the custom of war, establish and live the principles of peace."^[11]

On a hill overlooking the Mystic River near Mystic, Connecticut, the UPU owned a grove and built a "Peace Temple" that could seat 1,000 people for annual summer gatherings that attracted such noted speakers as William Lloyd Garrison and Julia Ward Howe. The grove eventually was mortgaged to pay for UPU programs and publications and then sold in 1914 to Mary Jobe Akeley.^[12] The property is now maintained as the Peace Sanctuary nature preserve, open daily from dawn to dusk.

Records of the UPU, including correspondence, minutes, financial records, publications, and memorabilia, are housed at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.^[13]

Notable people

• Adin Ballou
• Clara Barton
• Ida Whipple Benham
• Amanda Deyo
• Maria Freeman Gray
• John Wesley Hoyt
• Belva Ann Lockwood
• Alfred H. Love
• Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier
• Marguerite Moore
• Lucretia Mott
• Mary L. F. Ormsby
• Frédéric Passy
• Ruth Hinshaw Spray
• Walter Walsh
• Anna White

References

1. Ted Gottfried (2006). The Fight for Peace: A History of Antiwar Movements in America. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 47. ISBN 9780761329329.
2. "Extracts from Charter, Constitution, and Objects of the Universal Peace Union". The Peacemaker. Vol. 31. Universal Peace Union. November–December 1912. p. 41. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
3. "Alfred H. Love" (PDF). New York Times. June 30, 1913. Retrieved 31 December 2016. Alfred H. Love, President of the Universal Peace Union since its formation in 1866 ...
4. Memorial of Adin Ballou. Riverside Press. 1890. p. 74. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
5. "Our Memorial Tribute to Clara Barton". The Peacemaker. Vol. 31. Universal Peace Union. April–June 1912. pp. 69–73. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
6. Carol Faulkner (2011). Lucretia Mott's Heresy: Abolition and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0812205008. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
7. Alfred H. Love (September 1912). "Memorial Tribute to Frederic Passy". The Peacemaker. Vol. 31. Universal Peace Union. pp. 177–183. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
8. "Mary Frost Ormsby" Salt Lake Herald (October 11, 1891): 3. via Newspapers.com 
9. Alfred H. Love (July–August 1912). "Memorial Tribute to Hon. Ex-Governor John W. Hoyt". The Peacemaker. Vol. 31. Universal Peace Union. pp. 133–140. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
10. "Wilsonton, Kan., Dec. 1, 1898". The Wilsonton Journal. 1 December 1898. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Jill Norgren (2008). Belva Lockwood: Equal Rights Pioneer. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 81. ISBN 9780822590682. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
12. Brinton, Ellen Starr (March 1943). "The Rogerenes". The New England Quarterly. 16 (1): 3–19. doi:10.2307/361127. JSTOR 361127.
13. "Universal Peace Union Records". Swarthmore College. Retrieved 31 December 2016.

Further reading

• Thomas F. Curran, Soldiers of Peace: Civil War Pacifism and the Postwar Radical Peace Movement (2003)
• Robert Doherty, Alfred H. Love and the Universal Peace Union (1962)