CIVIL WAR JOHN BROWN RAID SLAVERY ABOLITIONIST CONGRESSMAN LETTER SIGNED 1832 !!

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GERRIT SMITH(1822-1912)RADICAL SLAVERY ABOLITIONIST who SUPPORTED JOHN BROWN,WOMENS SUFFRAGE ADVOCATE and SOCIAL REFORMER,FREE SOIL CONGRESSMAN from NEW YORK&RAN FOR PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES in 1848, 1856 and 1860!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 was also suffragette Elizabeth Cady's first cousin, and was himself an active advocate for women's rights. Smith was highly regarded in the early years of the movement, and was mentioned in Henry Stanton's address at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.HERE'S AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED by GERRIT SMITH, 1p., dated at Peterboro, May 28, 1832 to his lawyers asking that $2,000 be invested in the "...Canal Stock, in case the route of the Canal is along Oneida Creek..." and promises to send the funds "in my check on the U.S. Bank." At a time just seven years after the Erie Canal had opened, and with great enthusiasm and activity in upstate New York about canals and the great benefits they promised.The document measures 8" x 11 ¼" and is in very good condition.A RARE PIECE OF CIVIL WAR ABOLITIONIST/WOMENS' RIGHTS HISTORY TO ADD TO YOUR AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & EPHMERA COLLECTION!<< :: >>Biographical Sketch of the Honorable Gerrit SmithSmith, Gerrit (6 Mar. 1797-28 Dec. 1874), land speculator and abolitionist, was born in Utica, New York, the son of Peter Smith, a land speculator, and Elizabeth Livingston. Smith resided practically his entire life in Peterboro, Madison County, New York, where his father operated a land speculation business. A former partner of John Jacob Astor (1763-1848), the wealthy fur trader, the elder Smith acquired more than a quarter million acres of undeveloped land scattered across the states of New York, Vermont, Michigan, and Virginia. Gerrit's mother was from one of the state's leading families and was related to two other wealthy and powerful local clans, the Schuylers and the Van Rensselaers. Smith graduated as valedictorian from Hamilton College in 1818. He married Weltha Ann Backus, daughter of that college's president, in January 1819, but she died seven months later. In 1822 Smith married Ann Carroll Fitzhugh from Rochester, New York. They were the parents of four children.In the 1820s Smith took over management of the vast land holdings of his increasingly erratic father. The Smith family fortune was threatened by the nationwide financial depression of the late 1830s, but Gerrit ultimately survived the crisis richer than ever. In the 1840s and 1850s his annual income from his landholdings and investments in banking and railroads typically exceeded $60,000.Smith's great fortune allowed him to become one of the leading philanthropists of the early nineteenth century. Although he was antisectarian in his personal religious beliefs, Smith gave generously to the American Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union. He also devoted much of his time and fortune to assisting numerous reform movements popular in upstate New York's famous "Burned-Over District" during the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s. Smith became a leader and major financial sponsor of state and national organizations promoting temperance, prison reform, international peace, and land reform. He also supported his wife's and his daughter Elizabeth Smith Miller's active participation in the women's rights movement.The cause that captured the greatest portion of Smith's attention was the campaign to end slavery. At first Smith supported efforts to colonize slaves... read more

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