 On graduating, he apprenticed to John Biddle in the apothecary business, 
and on completion he was admitted to partnership.In 1819 he opened a drug store in
downtown Philadelphia, and in 1828 he entered into partnership with William Hodgson, renaming the 
firm "Smith & Hodgson", and continued to be active in business until a few years before his death.At the age of 28, he was one of the founders of the Apprentices' Library of 
Philadelphia.