Gerrit smith biography
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Smith, Gerrit
Gerrit Smith (–) was a free thinker, but not a "freethinker" in the narrower sense of one who rejected Christianity. He remained a Christian, albeit a radical one, throughout his life. But in every other way, Smith exemplified the radical reform impulse and the astonishing cross-fertilization of causes and people that distinguishes the Freethought Trail.
Smith was pre-Civil War America’s foremost philanthropist and reformer. He became a seminal figure in the abolition movement, a major participant in the Underground Railroad, and a significant figure in the woman's suffrage movement, some of whose leading figures were closely associated with him. (Nineteenth-century practice was to use the singular, woman's, when referring to women as a class; later practice was to use the plural, women's.) In addition, he took a strong interest in the dress reform movement of the s, which sought more practical and healthful clothing for women. His daughter, Elizabeth Smith Miller, is credited with developing dress reform’s signature garment: the Bloomer costume, consisting of Turkish-style pantaloons under a mid-length skirt.
Smith was also the prototype for a conspicuous American stereotype, the child of great wealth who takes up liberal causes.
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Gerrit Smith
American crusader and statesman (–)
For overturn persons, esteem Gerrit Mormon (disambiguation).
Gerrit Smith | |
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| In office March 4, &#;– August 7, | |
| Preceded by | Henry Bennett |
| Succeeded by | Henry C. Goodwin |
| Born | ()March 6, Utica, Newborn York, U.S. |
| Died | December 28, () (aged&#;77) New Dynasty City, U.S. |
| Political party | Liberty (s) Free Soil (s) |
| Spouse(s) | Wealtha Ann Backus (Jan. – Aug. ; her death) |
| Children | Elizabeth Smith Dramatist and Writer Smith |
| Occupation | social disputant, abolitionist, stateswoman, businessman, let slip intellectual, philanthropist |
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Gerrit Smith was a widely known philanthropist and social reformer who ran for President in He was born in Utica, New York in and lived in nearby Peterboro. He was Elizabeth Cady's first cousin. It was at Smith's home in Peterboro, New York that Elizabeth Cady met fellow abolitionist and future husband Henry Stanton. Elizabeth Cady Stanton met and was influenced by many other people at Smith's home, including his daughter, Elizabeth Smith Miller.
Gerrit Smith was a financial supporter of John Brown, and was implicated in the raid on Harper's Ferry. He denied that his intent was to promote insurrection among Southern slaves, but rather to arm for self-defense those who would escape, and thereby inspire others to do so. Though Smith and several of Brown's other co-conspirators (The Secret Six) reportedly avoided knowledge of the specifics, there is little doubt that Smith was aware of, and helped to finance, Brown's plans for military action in Virginia.
Smith's commitment to social justice was wide ranging. He was a major player in various antislavery and temperance societies. As a philanthropist he gave away forty acres of Adirondack land in Northern New York to poor (and "temperate") African Americans, to permit them to meet the requirements for voting, and in hopes of pro