"racially" integrated college in Cortland County. Smith supported the American Civil War, but at its close he advocated a mild policy toward the late Confederate states, declaring that part of the guilt of slavery lay upon the North. In 1867, Smith, together with Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt, helped to underwrite the $100,000 bond needed to free Jefferson Davis, who had, at that time, been imprisoned for nearly two years without being charged with any crime. In doing this, Smith incurred the resentment of Northern Radical Republican leaders. Smith's passions extended to religion as well as politics. Believing that sectarianism was sinful, he separated from the Presbyterian Church in 1843. He was one of the founders of the Church at Peterboro, a non-denominational institution open to all non-slave-owning Christians. His private benefactions were substantial; of his gifts he kept no record, but their value is said to have exceeded $8,000,000. Though a man of great wealth, his life was one of marked simplicity. He died in 1874 while visiting relatives in New York City. The Gerrit Smith Estate, in Peterboro, New York, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001. Tribute Frederick Douglass dedicated to Smith My Bondage and My Freedom (1855): Years before, a student at his Peterboro Manual Labor School, where "Mr. Smith liberally supplies us with stationery, books, board and lodging", stated that "if the man of color has a sincere friend, that friend is Gerrit Smith". Philanthropic activities Smith provided support for a large number of progressive causes and people and, except for his land grants, did not keep careful records. The dates given are in some cases approximate, either because documents do not provide a definite date, or because there were multiple payments. " of his land he had divided among various destitute people, and 650 poor women have received money from him to help provide themselves with homes." Built and ran unsuccessful temperance hotel in Peterboro, 1826–1831. Supporter of American Colonization Society, 1820s–early 1830s. Support for the Oneida Institute, 1830s. Manual labor school for "colored boys" in Peterboro, 1834-1836 (two years). Benjamin Quarles suggests that Smith may have ended the project because it was duplicating what was available at the nearby Oneida Institute, headed by his friend Beriah Green. Founder of church in Peterboro, 1843. (Dissatisfied with existing churches' refusal to insist on abolition.) Supported Frederick Douglass' abolitionist newspaper, The North Star, late 1840s.