Gerrit Smith

Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874) is a leading United States social reformer, abolitionist, politician, and philanthropist.

Spouse to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith is a candidate for President of the United States in 1848, 1856, and 1860, but only serves 18 months in the federal government—in Congress as a Free Soil Party Representative, in 1853–4.

Smith, a significant financial contributor to the Liberty Party and the Republican Party throughout his life, spends much time and money working towards social progress in the nineteenth century United States.

Besides making substantial donations of both land and money to the African-American community in North Elba, New York, he is involved in the Temperance Movement and, later in life, the colonization movement.

A staunch abolitionist, he is a member of the Secret Six who financially support John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

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