After obtaining his medical degree, Smith was hired as a surgeon on a merchant vessel that traveled to trade in several East Asian ports.
[2] Shortly after medical school, Smith (under the pen name "Jeremy Peters") published The Chronicles of Turkeytown, a satirical novel about rural America.
[2][4] After returning to Pennsylvania from China, Smith established a medical practice in Chester County and married a local woman.
Most notably, Smith would author the court's majority opinion during a case involving a land dispute between the state and Vincennes University.
In 1855, after a long, bitter fight, the Indiana General Assembly voted to charter the bank, overriding a veto by Governor Joseph A. Wright.
Smith wrote the lyrics for a pro-Union song called "The Union Soldier's Hymn", composed by Augustus Paulsen.