Gerrit Smith pledged to Frederick Douglass $7000 (in today's currency) per month for two years to support The North Star. Smith continued to send Douglass money even after his two year pledge. The Douglass-Smith relationship was unlikely for the 19th Century: A formally uneducated, powerless base, assertive, younger black man and a formally well educated, wealthy, influential, white elder. The two men bonded for the cause of the abolition of slavery, and that bond lasted until Smith's death. Douglass dedicated his second autobiography to Smith.

Abolitionists of New York met in Utica on October 21, 1835, to form an anti-slavery society. The delegates were mobbed twice. Gerrit Smith invited the delegates to the safety of Peterboro, and on October 22nd the first meeting of the NYS Antislavery Society was held.

The 600 delegates were threatened by a mob led by Congressman Beardsley. Mud and eggs were thrown at the abolitionists. Guns protected the home of Alvan Stewart who was one of the delegates.

... as 104 abolitionists rode an empty lumber barge from Utica to Canastota and then walked the nine miles uphill to Peterboro. The 504 delegates held their Antislavery meeting in the Presbyterian Church of Peterboro - the building that is now the home of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Erie Canal carried people and products and helped set the West on fire with the delivery of reform ideas which led to the name "The Burned Over District" in the NYS western counties and some counties in Central New York.