Joseph S. Frelinghuysen Memorial
Raritan, Somerset County, New Jersey
Marker Inscription
ON THIS SITE STOOD THE ESTATE OF U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH S. FRELINGHUYSEN. IT WAS HERE, ON JULY 2, 1921, THAT PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING SIGNED A JOINT CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION THAT OFFICIALLY ENDED WORLD WAR I.
The Story
By the summer of 1921, the guns of the Great War had been silent for over two years, yet the United States was still technically at war: the Senate had rejected the Treaty of Versailles, and no formal peace existed between America and the Central Powers. The resolution came on a quiet New Jersey weekend. Visiting the Raritan estate of his friend and ally Senator Joseph S. Frelinghuysen, President Warren G. Harding sat down here on July 2, 1921, and signed the Knox–Porter Resolution, a joint act of Congress that at last declared the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary over. A momentous close to a world conflict was thus put to paper far from the marble of Washington, in a senator's country home.
Why it matters
This unassuming spot marks where America formally ended its part in World War I — a reminder that some of the nation's weightiest decisions were sealed not in the Capitol, but in the everyday places where its leaders lived and gathered.
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Related people
- · Joseph S. Frelinghuysen
- · Warren G. Harding
Related events
- · End of World War I
- · Signing of the Knox–Porter Resolution (1921)
Themes & tags
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