Smith, Gerrit (1797-1874)

US philanthropist and reformer. He was active nationally as a leader of the antislavery Liberty Party 1824-74, was vice-president of the American Peace Society (1830s), and from 1835 on was a well-known abolitionist. Although he later backed giving the vote to black Americans, he also advocated moderate policies toward Southern whites. He donated much of his fortune to building churches, theological schools, and various colleges.

He was born in Utica, New York. Born into a wealthy family (with money from the fur trade and in land dealings), he studied law but would spend most of his life managing the family fortune. Although he had supported John Brown's 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, he denied doing so. Elected to one term in the US House of Representatives as an independent 1853-55, he ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York on the People's Party ticket in 1858, advocating temperance, abolition, and land reform. His house was a stop on the Underground Railroad. He supported the Union and campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in 1864.