Placed at each rotunda entrance are two bronze-casted tablets. The first four installed for the dedication measure 28 in by 50 1/4 in. These are: The Treaty or Peace Tablet, The Wilson Tablet, The Taft Tablet, and The Watterson Tablet. Two more were added shortly after the dedication and the final two smaller tablets, one signed by President John F. Kennedy and the other from Canada, were hung in 1963.
Hanging at one entrance to the Memorial is this cast bronze tablet, 28 in by 50 1/4 in. Known as The Wilson Tablet. It is a signed dedication and gratitude from President Woodrow Wilson to Commander Perry and those who served the nation with him.
The Wilson Tablet
IT IS FOR ME A HAPPY
CIRCUMSTANCE THAT I
SHOULD SPEAK FOR THE
GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE
OF THE UNITED STATES
IN JOINING IN THIS WELL
DESERVED MEMORIAL TO
A GREAT COMMANDER. MEN
OF THIS SORT A NATION
NEVER FORGETS. THIS MEM-
ORIAL IS NOT MEANT SO
MUCH TO KEEP HIS MEMORY
GREEN AS TO FULFILL A
PIOUS NATIONAL DUTY AND
TO SHOW TO THE GENERA-
TIONS TO COME THAT THE
NATION IS NOT UNGRATEFUL
AND IS ALWAYS MINDFUL
OF THOSE WHO SERVE HER.
WOODROW WILSON
THE WHITE HOUSE
JUNE 30, 1913
The Treaty or Peace Tablet
A CENTURY OF PEACE
SECURED BY SIMPLE DISARMAMENT
PROCLAIMED BY PRESIDENT MONROE, APRIL 28, 1818, AND STILL IN FULL FORCE, THE RUSH-BAGOT AGREEMENT IS THE MOST ENDURING AND FATEFUL RESULT OF THE WAR OF 1812.
IT HAS SAVED MANY MILLIONS IN MONEY AND PROB-ABLY MANY THOUSANDS OF LIVES BY MAINTAINING IN PERFECT PEACE FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY THREE THOU-SAND MILES OF FRONTIER BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE WITHOUT SOLDIER OR SHIP, WITHOUT FORTRESS OR GUN.
IT HAS BEEN THE DECIDING INFLUENCE IN CARRYING THESE TWO GREAT NATIONS IN PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP THROUGH FOUR CRISES, ANY ONE OF WHICH, WITHOUT IT, WOULD PROBABLY HAVE RESULTED IN DESTRUCTIVE WAR.
BECAUSE THIS MEMORIALIS DEDICATED TO COM-MEMORATION OF VICTORY IN WAR NOT MORE THAN TO THE TRIUMPH OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF PEACE WITH OUR TRUSTED CANADIAN NEIGHBORS. THIS, THE SHORTEST OF TREATIES BETWEEN GREAT NATIONS IS WRITTEN HERE IN FULL, IN ENDURING BRONZE, TO BE READ BY ALL THE PEOPLE.
THE AGREEMENT
THE NAVAL FORCE TO BE MAINTAINED UPON THE AMERICAN LAKES BY HIS MAJESTY AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHALL HENCEFORTH BE CONFINED TO THE FOLLOWING VESSELS ON EACH SIDE, THAT IS –
ON LAKE ONTARIO, TO ONE VESSEL NOT EXCEEDING ONE HUNDRED TONS BURDEN, AND ARMED WITH ONE EIGHTEEN-POUND CANNON.
ON THE UPPER LAKES, TO TWO VESSELS NOT EX- CEEDING LIKE BURDEN EACH, AND ARMED WITH LIKE FORCE.
ON THE WATERS OF LALE CHAMPLAIN, TO ONE VESSEL NOT EXCEEDING LIKE BURDEN, AND ARMED WITH LIKE FORCE.
ALL OTHER ARMED VESSELS ON THOSE LAKES SHALL BE FORTHWITH DISMANTLED AND NO OTHER VESSEL OF WAR SHALL BE THERE BUILT OR ARMED.
IF EITHER PARTY SHOULD BE HEREAFTER DESIROUS OF ANNULLING THIS STIPULATION, AND SHOULD GIVE NOTICE TO THAT EFFECT TO THE OTHER PARTY IT SHALL CEASE TO BE BINDING AFTER THE EXPIRATION OF SIX MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF SUCH NOTICE.
This bronze tablet hangs on the doorway wall. it is inscribed with a dedication memoralizing patriotic zeal, valor, and more.
The Watterson Tablet
THE BUILDING OF THE
MEMORIAL PERTAINS TO
HISTORY EQUALLY WITH
THE EVENTS WHICH GAVE
IT INSPIRATION.
AS THE MONUMENT
SHALL STAND FOR ALL THE
AGES, SO THE PATRIOTIC ZEAL,
DEVOTION AND INTELLIG-
ENCE WHICH GAVE IT TO THE
NATION ARE PART OF THE
IMPERISHABLE RECORDS OF
OUR COUNTRY.
FITTINGLY WE HAVE MEM-
ORIALIZED VALOR AND
PEACE.
MAY THE HEARTS OF
MEN NEVER TURN FROM THE
ONE AS THE SIGNET OF HU-
MAN WORTH, NOR FROM THE
OTHER AS THE HERITAGE OF
HUMAN LIBERTY.
HENRY WATTERSON
“MANSFIELD”
JEFFERSONTOWN, KY.
JUNE 1, 1917.
The Taft Tablet
THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE
IS REMARKABLE, NOT SO MUCH IN ITS
DETAILS AND IN THE COURAGE DISPLAYED
UPON EACH SIDE BY THOSE WHO PARTICI-
PATED, BUT IN THE NOTEWORTHY FACT
THAT IT FURNISHES THE “TERMINUS A QUO” OF A
CENTURY OF PEACE WITH THAT
POWER AGAINST WHICH WE HAD FOUGHT
TWO WARS LASTING EIGHT YEARS OF THE
PREVIOUS TWENTY-FIVE.
DESPITE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR NAVAL
WARFARE ON THE WATER BOUNDARY BE-
TWEEN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES
FROM DULUTH TO MONTREAL, AND THE
CONSEQUENT TEMPTATION TO MAKE THOSE
WATERS BRISTLE WITH FORMIDABLE
FLEETS IN TIMES OF PEACE, TO MEET THE
EXIGENCIES OF POSSIBLE WAR. THOSE
WATERS DURING THE WHOLE CENTURY
JUST PAST HAVE BEEN, BY AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE NATIONS, WHOLLY FREE
FROM SUCH DOGS OF WAR AND THE BEAU-
TIFUL SHORES ON EACH SIDE OF THIS
NATURAL BOUNDARY HAVE NOT BEEN VEXED
WITH BEETLING ARMAMENTS.
IN THE PRESENT MOVEMENT, BROUGHT
ON BY THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD,
TO SECURE RELIEF FROM WAR AND THE
BURDEN OF ITS PREPARATIONS, THIS
CONDITION, EFFECTED BY INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENT, FURNISHES AN INSTRUCTIVE
LESSON.
WILLIAM TAFT
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
JUNE 27, 1913.
THE
INTER-STATE BOARD
OF THE
PERRY’S VICTORY CENTENNIAL
COMMISSIONERS
GENERAL OFFICERS
GEORGE H. WORTHINGTON PRESIDENT GENERAL
HENRY WATTERSON FIRST VICE PRESIDENT GENERAL
WEBSTER P. HUNTINGTON SECRETARY GENERAL
A.E. SISSON TREASURER GENERAL
HARRY CUTLER AUDITOR GENERAL
MACKENZIE P. TODD FINANCIAL SECRETARY
UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS
LIEUTENANT GENERAL NELSON A. MILES
REAR ADMIRAL CHAPLES H. DAVIS
GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER
ARCHITECTS
JOSEPH H. FREEDLANDER
A.D. SEYMOUR JR.
THIS SINGLE COLUMN
COMMEMORATES THE END
OF A BATTLE AND THE HERA-
LDING OF A LASTING ERA
OF PEACE BETWEEN CANADA
AND THE UNITED STATES –
TWO NEIGHBORS DEDICATED
TO BROTHERHOOD AND PRO-
GRESS WITHIN THE FAMILY
OF FREE NATIONS THROUGH-
OUT THE WORLD.
IT PROVIDES LASTING TEST-
IMONY THAT OUR COMMON
VALUES OF FREEDOM AND
DIVERSITY CAN BE ATTAINED
AND STRENGTHENED THR-
OUGH MUTUAL RESPECT AND
REGARD.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
THE WHITE HOUSE
SEPTEMBER 8, 1963
THIS PLAQUE IS DEDICATED
TO THE 150 YEARS OF PEACE
WHICH FOLLOWED THE WAR
OF 1812, IN WHICH SO MANY
LOST THEIR LIVES, AND TO
THE HOPE THAT THIS HARM-
ONY BETWEEN TWO NEIGH-
BORS MAY BE A SYMBOL OF
INTERNATIONAL COOPERAT-
ION IN A WORLD STRIVING
TOWARD THE GOAL OF
LASTING PEACE.
LESTER B. PEARSON
OTTAWA, CANADA
SEPTEMBER 8,1963
THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
THE STATES AND THEIR
COMMISSIONERS ENGAGED IN
THE ERECTION OF THIS MEMORIAL
------------
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
LIEUTENANT GENERAL NELSON A. MILES,
REAR ADMIRAL CHARLES H. DAVIS,
MAJOR GENERAL J. WARREN KEIFER.
OHIO
HORACE L. CHAPMAN, JOHN H. CLARKE,
GEORGE W. DUN, HORACE HOLBROOK, WEBSTER P. HUNTINGTON
S.M. JOHANNSEN, NICHOLAS LONGWORTH, JOHN J. MANNING,
WM. C. MOONEY, GENERAL A.J. WARNER,
ELI WINKLER, GEORGE H. WORTHINGTON.
PENNSYLVANIA
T.C. JONES, GEORGE W. NEFF, MILTON W. SHREVE,
A.E. SISSON, EDWIN H. VARE.
MICHIGAN
ROY S. BARNHART, JOHN C. LODGE, ARTHUR B. LOOMIS,
GEORGE WHITFIELD PARKER, E.K. WARREN.
ILLINOIS
WM. PORTER ADAMS, H.L. BECKEMEYER, RICHARD S. FOLSOM,
GENERAL PHILIP C. HAYES, NELSON W. LAMPERT, W.H. MCINTOSH,
CHESLEY R. PERRY, JAMES PUGH, WM. HALE THOMPSON,
ADAM WECHLER, WILLIS J. WELLS.
WISCONSIN
JOHN M. BAER, LOUIS G. BOHMRICH, SOL. P. HUNTINGTON,
LIEUTENANT GENERAL ARTHUR MACARTHUR,
CHARLES B. PERRY, S.W. RANDOLPH, A.W. SANBORN,
GEORGE E. SCOTT, REAR ADMIRAL F.M. SYMONDS,
JOHN M. WHITEHEAD.
NEW YORK
SIMON L. ADLER, WILLIAM J. CONNERS, GEORGE D. EMERSON,
MARTIN H. GLYNN, CLINTON B. HERRICK, EDWARD D. JACKSON,
JOHN F. MALONE, JOHN T. MOTT, HENRY H. NOBLE,
WM. L. ORMROD, WM. F. RAFFERTY, EDWARD SCHOENECK,
JACOB SCHIFFERDECKER, WILLIAM SIMON,
ROBERT F. WAGNER, CHARLES H. WILTSIE.
RHODE ISLAND
LOUIS M. ARNOLD, COLONEL HARRY CUTLER, HENRY E. DAVIS,
SUMNER MOWRY, JOHN R. SANBORN.
KENTUCKY
COLONEL ANDREW COWAN, R.W. NELSON, MACKENZIE R. TODD,
HENRY WATTERSON, SAMUEL M. WILSON.
MASSACHUSETTS
