Instead, he served in the Congress, representing Madison and Oswego counties He resigned at the close of his first session. Autographs for freedom. Originally a supporter of the American Colonization Society, which was involved in exporting black missionaries to Liberia, Smith was gradually (and apparently grudgingly) moved closer to the camp of William LLoyd Garrison by the deliberate efforts of his associates as well as unplanned circumstances. He was a major player in various antislavery and temperance societies. Gerrit is a charismatic Leader with unparalleled people skills, business acumen and foresight. In 1848, the Liberty Party nominated Gerrit Smith — a prominent abolitionist, Millerite Adventist, and seventh-day Sabbath observer — as a candidate for president of the United States. His support for women's dress reform was likely related to his daughter, Elizabeth Smith Miller's, development of the costume popularized by Amelia Bloomer. Gerrit Smith was a financial supporter of John Brown, and was implicated in the raid on Harper's Ferry. Names like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith are familiar. Throughout the antebellum period, Millerites and Seventh-day Adventists also risked their lives to … The ticket won 171 popular votes from Illinois and Ohio. He was born in Utica, New York in 1797 and lived in nearby Peterboro. Gerrit Smith (1797-1874), a nationally prominent and influential abolitionist and social reformer who played a critical role in the operations of the Underground Railroad, lived on this estate and conducted business out of this land office. Smith was an ardent abolitionist and “social reformer” like the rest, but he had also been involved in politics, running for president a couple times. He forgave the outstanding debts of his southern clients, and traveled to Richmond, Virginia to sign the bail bond of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis and contribute $25,000 to securing his freedom. Smith's commitment to social justice was wide ranging. The Secret Six were five existentialists from Boston and one New Yorker, Gerrit Smith. He was Elizabeth Cady's first cousin. A dauguerotype of an 1850 antislavery convention in Cazenovia, New York pictures the young Frederick Douglass in front of the older Smith. He became the president of the New York Anti-Slavery Gerrit Smith (1797-1874), American philanthropist and reformer, was a founder of the radical-abolitionist Liberty party. 1797-1874 Prior to the raid on Harpers Ferry John Brown often met with the Secret Six in Boston to finance his deadly expedition. For Governor -- Wm. His conversion to abolitionism occurred in 1835, when he attended an abolitionist conference in Utica, New York. Peterboro, Dec. 21, 1857. As a philanthropist he gave away forty acres of Adirondack land in Northern New York to 3000 poor (and "temperate") African Americans, to permit them to meet the requirements for voting, and in hopes of promoting self-sufficiency. Gerrit Smith sold farm tracts for one dollar each to 3,000 poor African Americans, many of whom he had helped escape into freedom, with approximately 140,000 acres being transferred between 1846 and 1850. In the end, Smith was nominated for president and Samuel McFarland from Pennsylvania was nominated for vice president. In the following letter, Gerrit Smith discusses Van Buren's nomination. Gerrit Smith was nominated almost unanimously with Charles Foote, a religious minister from Michigan, as his running-mate. Educators, transcendentalists and wealthy, at the convention gerrit smith president Frederick Douglass many! 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