The Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration was founded in 1895 to support the cause of international arbitration, arbitration treaties, and an international court, and to generate public support on behalf of the cause. These meetings, which took place between 1895 and 1916, were instrumental in the creation of the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The first Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration was held in June 1895 at

Lake Mohonk Lake Mohonk is a lake in Ulster County, New York, United States. It is located approximately northwest of Poughkeepsie. Activities on the lake are operated by Mohonk Mountain House. Description The small lake, long and deep, is located above ...

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Fifty individuals selected by Albert K. Smiley, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

and the owner of the

Mohonk Mountain House The Mohonk Mountain House, also known as Lake Mohonk Mountain House, is an American resort hotel located south of the Catskill Mountains on the crest of the Shawangunk Ridge. The property lies at the junction of the towns of New Paltz, Marbletow ...

, one of the most prestigious summer resorts of the day, convened at the initial sessions at the resort. The annual conferences soon grew to attract 300 leaders of government, business, religion, the press, and education. It was one of the stops of `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West. After Albert Smiley's death in December 1912, his place as host of the Conferences was taken by his half-brother, Daniel Smiley. The last conference was held in 1916. Plans for a 1917 conference were made, but it was never held, partly due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The conference papers were later donated by the Smiley Family to

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

for study and research.

External links

Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration - Records
*{{cite thesis , last=Reid , first=Cecilie, date= December 2005 , title=American internationalism: Peace advocacy and international relations, 1895–1916 , type= PhD , publisher=Department of History,

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, via= ProQuest Dissertations Publishing , oclc= 70701813 , url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/533d06c51249b0b878b2e53b782ac341/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y , access-date= History of Ulster County, New York 1895 establishments in New York (state) 1916 disestablishments in the United States International conferences in the United States