 Smith was a Democratic-Republican who served as an associate judge of Erie County, Pennsylvania, from 1803 to 1805.In 1805 he was elected to the Ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative John Baptiste Charles Lucas.He was reelected in 1806 and 1808 to the Tenth and Eleventh Congresses, but was defeated in his bid for reelection to the Twelfth Congress in 1810.