Gerrit Smith: Reformer

Inspired by the Second Great Awakening and the reform spirit of the 1820s, Gerrit Smith devoted his time, oratory, writing, and wealth to social reform. He believed property ownership gave people pride and power, and he helped ten Peterboro families buy homes, divided 120,000 acres in 1846 into 40-acre grants for 3000 Black Americans in the Adirondacks so they could meet voting property requirements, and gave land or financial help to struggling families and poor, landless women seeking homes. He championed temperance, building a Temperance Hotel in Peterboro and supporting legal enforcement, promoted diet reform and hosted Sylvester Graham in 1840, opposed secret societies as undemocratic, supported women’s rights through his influence on Elizabeth Cady Stanton and his aid to Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth, and backed dress reform by supporting his daughter Elizabeth’s bloomer costume as part of women’s equal rights.

Smithfield, New York · United States