This belief led him to attempt to get Gerrit Smith to merge his black manual labor college with the Oneida Institute.
Much of the funding for Torrey and Smallwood’s work apparently came from Gerrit Smith, a wealthy abolitionist in Syracuse.
In 1840, he had married Elizabeth Potts Fitzhugh (sister of Henry Fitzhugh and of Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, wife of Gerrit Smith).
Beginning in March 1854, he traveled in the South to examine slavery for himself, interviewing slaves and collecting material published in 1859 as The Roving Editor: or, Talks with Slaves in the Southern States. The book's production costs were covered by prominent antislavery philanthropist Gerrit Smith.
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Syracuse was an active center for the abolitionist movement, due in large part to the influence of Gerrit Smith and a group allied with him, mostly associated with the Unitarian Church and their pastor The Reverend Samuel May in Syracuse, as well as with Quakers in nearby Skaneateles, supported as well by abolitionists in many other religious congregations.
Noted characters were frequently received there including Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay and Gerrit Smith.
Goodwin was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Gerrit Smith and served from November 7, 1854, to March 3, 1855.