In 1866 Smalls went into business in Beaufort with Richard Howell Gleaves, a businessman from Philadelphia.
They opened a store to serve the needs of freedmen.
Smalls also hired a teacher to help him study.
That April, the Radical Republicans who controlled Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson's vetoes and passed a Civil Rights Act.
In 1868, they passed the 14th Amendment, which was ratified by the states to extend full citizenship to all Americans regardless of race.

Smalls invested significantly in the economic development of the Charleston-Beaufort region.
 In 1870, in anticipation of a Reconstruction-based prosperity, Smalls, with fellow representatives Joseph Rainey, Alonzo Ransier and others, formed the Enterprise Railroad, an 18-mile horse-drawn railway line that carried cargo and passengers between the Charleston wharves and inland depots.
Except for one white director ("Carpetbagger" newspaper editor legislator and county treasurer Timothy Hurley), the railroad's board of directors was entirely African American.
Richard H. Cain was its first president.
Author Bernard E. Powers describes it as "the most impressive commercial venture by members of Charleston's black elite."
He owned and helped publish a black-owned newspaper, the Beaufort Southern Standard starting in 1872.
In 1866 Smalls went into business in Beaufort with Richard Howell Gleaves, a businessman from Philadelphia. They opened a store to serve the needs of freedmen. Smalls also hired a teacher to help him study. That April, the Radical Republicans who controlled Congress overrode President Andrew Johnson's vetoes and passed a Civil Rights Act. In 1868, they passed the 14th Amendment, which was ratified by the states to extend full citizenship to all Americans regardless of race.
Smalls invested significantly in the economic development of the Charleston-Beaufort region.  In 1870, in anticipation of a Reconstruction-based prosperity, Smalls, with fellow representatives Joseph Rainey, Alonzo Ransier and others, formed the Enterprise Railroad, an 18-mile horse-drawn railway line that carried cargo and passengers between the Charleston wharves and inland depots. Except for one white director ("Carpetbagger" newspaper editor legislator and county treasurer Timothy Hurley), the railroad's board of directors was entirely African American. Richard H. Cain was its first president. Author Bernard E. Powers describes it as "the most impressive commercial venture by members of Charleston's black elite." He owned and helped publish a black-owned newspaper, the Beaufort Southern Standard starting in 1872.
Robert Smalls