Abstract In the 1820s William Ladd of the Maine Peace Society suggested that the regional US peace societies become associated in a national organization. As a result, the peace societies of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) merged in May 1828 to form the American Peace Society [APS]. The stated purpose of the American Peace Society was to "promote permanent international peace through justice; and to advance in every proper way the general use of...